Saint Matthew and the Angel

Giovanni Gerolamo Savoldo

Date unknown · Oil on canvas · European Paintings

Saint Matthew shares a spellbound gaze with an angel who inspires him to write his gospel. Behind are two scenes from the saint’s life: on the right he receives hospitality at the court of the queen of Ethiopia, while the event on the left is less clear. The various sources of light in the painting suggest that this was one of the works described by the biographer Giorgio Vasari as “nocturnes, with fires,” which Savoldo painted around 1534 for the head of the Milanese mint.

Artist

Giovanni Gerolamo Savoldo

Date

Date unknown

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Marquand Fund, 1912