Conversion on the Way to Damascus by Caravaggio

Conversion on the Way to Damascus by Caravaggio

Knocked off his horse

Most of the canvas is horse. Saul lies on the ground beneath it, eyes closed, arms thrown wide, his sword and helmet fallen beside him; the groom holds the bridle and looks at the animal's hoof, not at the man. The light that has struck Saul is the only thing in the picture that isn't ordinary, and Caravaggio does not paint its source. What we see is the effect: a man on his back, undone.

Paul himself said only that a light from heaven flashed around him and he fell to the ground. Caravaggio took him at his word.

The Cerasi Chapel

Painted for the chapel of Monsignor Tiberio Cerasi in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, where it faces the Crucifixion of Saint Peter across an altarpiece by Annibale Carracci. The first version was rejected; this is the second, painted in 1601 and installed in the chapel in 1605.

About this print

Made from a high-resolution scan of the painting, 8,817 pixels tall.

Sources: Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, Cerasi Chapel · Wikidata Q2273517 · Wikimedia Commons