The Conversion of Saul Veronese (Paolo Cagliari) (1528-1588)

Description of Paolo Veronese’s painting The Conversion of Saul

In the visual arts of the sixteenth century, the time of the twilight of the Renaissance, the theme of complete spiritual change was a very popular one. After the Renaissance anthem of sensuality and materiality, other times came when all this began to lose its relevance.

And artists find new ideas for self-expression in accordance with the mood of society. Paolo Veronese of the Venetian school was no exception, turning to perhaps the most popular religious subject used by painters - the story of Saul.

Saul is recounted in the biblical "Acts of the Apostles" - this man not only hated Christians, he tried to fight them and the teachings of Christ in every way possible. One day he went to the city of Damascus, to be at the head of the persecutors of the Christians. But on the way Saul was struck by a ray of divine light that blinded him. Then he heard a voice asking why Saul was persecuting him. Shocked by all this, the former antagonist Saul disappears and is replaced by another Saul, a faithful follower of Jesus, who has since become the Apostle Paul.

The center of the composition is Saul’s horse, which has fallen to the ground. It seems as if a ray from heaven has a powerful force that scatters everything around - the trees are deflected aside as if by an explosion, horses are torn from the hands of their riders and rushed away, people are running and falling. Saul himself is prostrate on the ground, stunned by the conversion of God. His body is painted in the same perspective which Michelangelo liked to apply in his paintings.

The painting lacks the clarity, precision and deliberate theatricality of the subject which is typical of Renaissance: the characters overlap and clash with one another, and some of them are depicted only partially, as if going beyond the canvas. At the same time, the viewer is as if invited to speculate on the completeness of the picture.

All these techniques were a new word in painting at the time and represented a striking contrast to Renaissance paintings, where all the characters had their places and the place of action was clearly limited to the picture frame.