BRUEGEL, Pieter the Elder
(b. ca. 1525, Brogel, d. 1569, Brussel)

The Conversion of Saul (detail)

1567
Oil on panel
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Bruegel has given particular prominence to a black rider seen from the rear, who is observing the fallen Saul. The painter was presumably hoping that the reputedly terrible "Black" Alba, known as a ruthless persecutor of heretics, will be converted on his way to the Netherlands. The painting is dated 1567, the year in which Alba and his army entered the Netherlands.