The painting is a copy in reverse of the Conversion of St Paul by Sir Peter Paul Rubens made in the 1620s for Wladyslaw Vasa of Poland (fig. 1). In 1669 it entered the collection of John II Casimir in Paris and remained in France until 1819, when it was purchased by G. Harris of London. It was acquired by the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin in 1903. During the Second World War the painting was removed to an anti-aircraft tower for safety, and was lost, presumably destroyed, in 1945.