Saint Stephen before the Council

Art Historical Context

This engraving, created between 1501 and 1550 by Philip Galle after a design by Maerten van Heemskerck, captures a pivotal moment from the biblical story of Saint Stephen. The scene depicts the first Christian martyr standing before the council, accused of blasphemy. Heemskerck, a leading Dutch artist of the Northern Renaissance, infused his compositions with dramatic gestures and architectural details drawn from both classical antiquity and Italian Mannerism, which Galle faithfully translated into the precise lines of the print medium. Engravings like this one played a vital role in 16th-cen...