Saint Paul, from The Martyrdom of the Apostles

Saint Paul, from The Martyrdom of the Apostles — Lucas Cranach the Elder. c. 1512.

Medium: Woodcut in black on ivory laid paper. Dimensions: Image/block/sheet: 16.3 × 12.7 cm (6 7/16 × 5 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

Lucas Cranach’s depiction of the martyrdom of Saint Matthew gruesomely displays his decapitated head bouncing away from his body, which is still bleeding. This single-sheet impression dates from the first printing of the series in 1512. These woodblocks were later reused in a 1548 printing of The Apostles Creed , which also included tamer views of saints’ enshrined remains from Cranach’s 1509 Reliquary Book .

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.