The blinding of the sorcerer Elymas.

Engraving, 26,2 x 33,7 cm, laid paper with watermark (anchor in circle), signed and dated in the plate at upper right "A.V.1516" (trimmed to platemarks, glue marks on verso).

St Paul on the right, holding his arm towards Elymas who is walking with his eyes closed. Elymas was punished with blindness by God because he refused to accept St Paul's divine mission to spread Christianity. The engraving is based upon the famous tapestry cycle "The Acts of the Apostles" designed by Raphael, and commissioned by Pope Leo X to adorn the walls of the Sistine Chapel. The cartoons are now in the V&A, London. Agostino Veneziano (Agostino de’ Musi) was born in Venice ca. 1490. He then moved to Florence and then Rome. From around 1516 he was working in the printmaking workshop of Marcantonio Raimondi (ca. 1480-1534). Between 1527 & 1531 he worked in Venice, returning to Rome where he died in the late 1530s. Fine grey impression of the 2nd state (of 4), published by Salamanca.
Ref. Bartsch XIV.48.43.