Et fidei documenta sacrae dum praedicat, omnem Convertit populum, cui gens Iudea proterue Insidias parat et nascenti obsistere tentat Ecclesiae at Paulus demissus funibus exit. (Ac. Cap.9.25.) Gravure originale du XVIIe siècle

Original engraving executed with burin after a 16th-century painting by Maerten Jacobszoon Heemskerk van Veen or Maarten van Heemskerck, Marten, Maerten, Martin.
Proof on watermarked laid paper, early 17th-century work. Latin caption in the lower part of the engraving. Artist's signature in the plate. Numbered mention "17" in the lower right corner, within the engraving. Manuscript notation "150" in margin in the upper right corner of the plate. Crown watermark visible by transparency. An old manuscript annotation in Greek characters below the plate mark.
This is an illustration of a passage from Acts of the Apostles, 9.22-25: "Cependant Saul se fortifiait de plus en plus, et il confondait les Juifs qui habitaient Damas, démontrant que Jésus est le Christ. Au bout d'un certain temps, les Juifs se concertèrent pour le tuer, et leur complot parvint à la connaissance de Saul. On gardait les portes jour et nuit, afin de lui ôter la vie. Mais, pendant une nuit, les disciples le prirent, et le descendirent par la muraille, dans une corbeille." ["But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket."]
Rare and discreet foxing and small dampstains mainly marginal, otherwise very fine condition for this extremely rare engraving of great freshness.
Maerten Jacobszoon Heemskerk van Veen or Maarten van Heemskerck, Marten, Maerten, Martin (1498 in Heemskerk - October 1, 1574 in Haarlem), is one of the major portraitists and history painters of the Netherlands. He is famous for his series of the Seven Wonders of the World.