Saint Philip Baptizes the Eunuch, Jacob de Wit, 1748
oil on canvas, h c.215cm × w c.108.5cm More details
The painting depicts the Bible story ‘the baptism of the eunuch’ in which an Ethiopian converts to Christianity and is baptized. For the Moravian Brethren, who met in this room of a canal house, this account represents the idea that the souls of non-Christians could be saved. Moravians travelled to Suriname, among other places, to convert enslaved people and denounce their religions and spirituality as idolatry.
