The subject of one of Rembrandt’s earliest paintings, created when he was only a teenager, the Martyrdom of St. Stephen was a theme he returned to in etching. St. Stephen was a follower of Christ and a deacon of the early church in Jerusalem and one of the earliest martyrs according to the Acts of the Apostles from the Bible. He was accused of blasphemy and sentenced to death. The dramatic scene shows his torturers with stones raised, ready to carry out the martyr’s punishment. The psychological element of the scene speaks to the viewer in a very personal way, in keeping with contemporary Christian reforms of the age.
