The Conversion of the Emperor Constantine

A rare example of a surviving early painting on glass, this picture is stylistically comparable to works by Tempesta. The composition would appear to derive from and be influenced by the tradition established initially by Francesco Salviati in a drawing of The Conversion of Saint Paul dated 1525 that was subsequently engraved by Enea Vico (Illustrated Bartsch, XXX, fig. 13) and of which a painted copy is in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome. That composition was taken up and adapted by successive artists influenced by Roman Mannerism including, for example, Taddeo Zuccaro (in the Frangipani Chapel of S Marcello al Corso, Rome), Joannes Stradanus, Giulio Clovio and Bartholomaus Spranger, Hans Speckaert and Tempesta himself in an engraving.