Relief - Saint Peter taking leave of Saint Paul

The scene consisting of several figures shows the last meeting of the two apostles before their martyrdom. The two central figures of the composition, St. Peter and St. Paul, who denied the idolatry, demanded of him by the pagan high priest seen on the left, are followed to the place of execution by Roman soldiers. The composition is framed above by flying angels in the clouds holding the laurel wreaths of the martyrs, and in the background to the left is the view of the Porta Latina in Rome. The subject is not of Biblical origin. The scene is not told in the Acts of the Apostles, it has become one of the recurrent topics of baroque iconography after the work of the famous Catholic ecclesiastical historian, Cesare Baronius. (Annales Ecclesiastici, vol. I. cap. X.)

The relief follows the composition of the famous painter of Constance (Konstanz), Johann Christoph Storer (1611—1671) — Münster, Landesmuseum fur Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte. This drawing is from the early period of Storer, made during his activity in Lombardy, and is most probably a design for a Northern-Italian engraver. The master using the initials ICL was working in the region of the Lake of Constance (Konstanz) two other reliefs from him are known with the same initials: Lamentation for the Dead Christ, Dresden, Grünes Gewölbe, and a Calvary, Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum. The new supposition of the literature, according to which this work, and the two other reliefs mentioned with the initials ICL may be attributed to Johann Christoph Ludwig Lücke (about 1703— 1780) is groundless, considering the style and date of the works. Another earlier opinion is based on the false interpretation of the initials and considered — albeit with reservations —Johann Georg Lenckhardt to be the master of the relief.