
Wikimedia Commons • Public Domain
This is the first signed painting by Rembrandt van Rijn, created in 1625 when he was just nineteen. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, kneels in brilliant light as tormentors surround him with raised stones. In the background, Saul of Tarsus, the future Saint Paul, sits holding the cloaks of the stoners.
A diagonal divides the composition: shadow on the left (a mounted figure), light on the right (Stephen and his persecutors). The influence of Caravaggio and Adam Elsheimer is evident in the dramatic chiaroscuro. One figure behind Stephen appears to be a self-portrait, a young man with an alarmed expression who may be "having second thoughts," as scholar John Durham suggests. The work shows the precious, detailed style of the Leiden School. It measures 89.5 x 123.6 cm, oil on panel, and hangs at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon.
Other masterpieces from the Baroque movement

Frans Hals, 1624
Wallace Collection, London
Johannes Vermeer, 1666
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Johannes Vermeer, 1665
Mauritshuis, The Hague

El Greco, 1614
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Johannes Vermeer, 1670
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Johannes Vermeer, 1664
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Johannes Vermeer, 1663
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Diego Velázquez, 1650
National Gallery, London
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