The Stoning of Saint Stephen

The left half lies in shadow, with a rider seen from behind. In the light Stephen has sunk to his knees and spreads his arms, while men crowd round him with stones raised in both hands.

The panel is signed and dated 1625. It is the earliest dated painting by Rembrandt that we know; he was nineteen and had just returned to Leiden from his months with the Amsterdam painter Pieter Lastman, whose crowded history pictures it follows.