Bekering van Saulus

Conversion of Saul from 1646 by Cuyp at the Dordrechts Museum depicts the dramatic moment of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. The subject allowed Cuyp to combine his landscape expertise with supernatural drama, the divine light that strikes Saul complementing his characteristic luminous atmosphere. Characteristic of the artist's mature approach, the work displays warm amber-golden tonality derived from Jan Both's Italianate landscapes, serene cattle and horse subjects bathed in afternoon light, the Rhine at Dordrecht seen through a Mediterranean filter.

The divine light bursting from the sky integrates naturally with Cuyp's warm atmospheric treatment, the fallen figure of Saul set within a broad landscape composition.