Saint Paul imprisoned at Philippi

This panel of Saint Paul imprisoned at Philippi is a characteristic work by the Delft painter Leonaert Bramer. The dramatic lighting and instinctive handling are hallmarks of Bramer's idiosyncratic style, formed following a period in Rome (1616-27) where he absorbed the ideas of Caravaggio and was greatly influenced by artists such as Adam Elsheimer. The picture compares stylistically with Bramer's panel depicting The Judgement of Solomon, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and thought to date to the 1640s.

This picture formed part of the Nelda C. and Lutcher Stark Foundation, from which a group of old masters were sold in these Rooms in 2005 (see provenance), including Gerrit Dou's remarkable Sleeping dog beside a terracotta pot (lot 12), painted in 1650 and now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.