Harbor Scene with St. Paul’s Departure from Caesarea

This oil painting on copper depicts an outdoor scene in the ancient harbor city of Caesarea (present-day Israel). The city was founded by Herod the Great in the first century BCE. The scene in this painting is from the Book of Acts, in which St. Paul boards a ship to Rome after being arrested in Caesarea. St. Paul is the figure wearing a halo (near the lower right corner of the painting). He is surrounded by soldiers.

St. Paul was one of Jesus’s apostles, or close followers, though he was not one of the original twelve. He is considered to be one of the key figures in the development and spread of early Christianity. He is known for spreading the teachings of Jesus to non-Jewish people. His writings make up a large part of the New Testament. The fishermen depicted at the bottom left side of the painting represent the other 11 apostles from the Bible. This symbolism comes from a quote in Matthew 4:19, in which Jesus says that the apostles will become “fishers of people.”

Jan Brueghel the Elder was a member of a family of artists (notably his father and his brother). He is known as “the Elder” because his son, also named Jan, became a well-known painter. Brueghel (the Elder) was nicknamed the “Velvet Brueghel” because of his ability to paint fine details. He worked mostly in Antwerp, Belgium, which became a major port city and cultural hub during his lifetime. He sometimes collaborated in paintings with other famous Flemish painters, including Peter Paul Rubens and Hendrik van Balen.