Style of Ambrogio Bergognone, 'Saint Paul', late 15th century

A bearded saint stands reading a book, his left hand resting on a sword, in this quietly contemplative picture. From his dark hair and beard and his attributes, we know that this is Saint Paul: the sword is the weapon with which he was martyred and the book represents his many writings.

This small panel is one of two which probably came from the top level of a polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) painted in the later years of the fifteenth century by a follower of the great Lombard artists Vincenzo Foppa and Ambrogio Bergognone. Saint Paul here bears some resemblance, particularly in stance and expression, to Foppa’s painting of Saint Theodore in the Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco, Milan, although Theodore’s staff has been swapped for a sword. Like the figure in Foppa’s work, Saint Paul may well have originally stood against a gilded background in an arched frame; the black overpaint is a later addition.

Saint Paul was one of the most important of the apostles and was largely responsible for establishing the Christian Church in the decades after Christ’s death. He came from a devout Jewish family from Tarsus on the Mediterranean, part of the Roman Empire. The saint initially persecuted Christian converts but was dramatically converted to the new faith on the road to Ephesus (as shown in The Conversion of Saint Paul). He became the most important promoter of Christianity, writing a considerable (though debated) number of the books of the New Testament – hence the book in his hand.

After several missionary journeys to found churches in Asia Minor and Europe, he was eventually arrested at the instigation of the Jews of Jerusalem, who accused him of teachings against Jewish law. As a Roman citizen, he appealed to the emperor and was sent to Rome, but was executed on the orders of the Emperor Nero.