Der Apostel Paulus

The apostle’s eyes are open wide, his mouth slightly ajar, while his right hand appears stiff and cramped. In this expressive picture Lovis Corinth clearly depicts both a representative of the Christian faith and a fanatic missionary. Paul, who before his proverbial conversion—from Saul to Paul—persecuted Christians, described himself in a letter to the Galatians as follows: “You have heard how I used to live as a law-abiding Jew, and know how excessively I persecuted and attempted to destroy the church of God."

Corinth show us a frontal view of the apostle, however Paul does not look at us. As if obsessed, his face displays the zeal which he was famous for before his conversion. In his left arm he holds the weapon by which he—now the subject of persecution—will die a martyr’s death: the sword of Rome.