(Paul Before Felix)

William Hogarth
(Paul before Felix)
London, Jane Hogarthj ca. 1780
Copper engraving
425 x 525mm
£220
Paulson 192 IV/V
The selection of the subject of St Paul’s plea before Felix was based primarily on its appropriateness to the Inns of Court, and secondarily on the opportunity it provided to a work directly comparable to Raphael’s St Paul Cartoons. An extension beyond the last episode of Raphael’s series the story begins when Paul is mobbed by the Jews for ignoring their laws and saved by the Roman soldiers who, learning that his is a Roman citizen, sent him to Caesarea to be judged by the govenor Felix.