Stoning of Saint Stephen

Hans Baldung Grien's Stoning of Saint Stephen from 1522 depicts the first Christian martyr's death by stoning. Baldung, Dürer's most gifted pupil, developed a distinctly personal style characterized by vivid colors, expressive distortion, and a fascination with death and the supernatural. The 1520s were a decade of transition, marked by the deaths of Raphael and Leonardo, the shock of the Reformation, and the beginnings of Mannerist experimentation.

The violent scene is rendered with Baldung's characteristic intensity, the dynamic composition of hurling figures and vivid, acidic colors creating a powerful image of religious violence.