The five Apostles: Saints Bartholomew, Paul, Philip, Simon and Thomas

In 1514 Dürer engraved the first two plates of what was meant to become a set of twelve engravings of the Apostles; Saint Paul and Saint Thomas. In the years following Dürer experimented with etching and became involved in the decoration of the city hall. In 1519 he left Nuremberg for the Netherlands and upon his return in 1521 became once again occupied with various painting commissions. The result of these distractions was that he did not return to the project until 1523, when he completed two further apostles, Saints Simon and Bartholomew. It is likely that he also began work on Saint Philip, but did not complete it until 1526, when changed the number 3 to 6 in the date. The apostles, in particular the later ones, are characterised by a great simplicity and monumentality, and the engraving of Saint Philip has the bright, silvery quality so typical of Dürer's later engravings.
Ironically, whilst the reformation may have encouraged Dürer to begin the series, it might have been the reformation's success that caused him to finally abandon the project in 1526. In the early days of the reform movement Saint Paul in particular was of importance, as the reformers saw the saint's 14 epistles as authentic descriptions of the earliest Christian communities. In their quest for the original, un-spoilt Christian spirit, these texts gained new relevance, which may have prompted Dürer to engrave the apostles. By the time Dürer ha engraved five of them and left the series unfinished, Nuremberg had become a protestant city and the production of images of saints was no longer encouraged or in demand.