Getty Museum
Saint Matthew Writing His Gospel
Creator
Carlo DolciItalian Artist · 1616–1687
All works by this person →"[S]ometimes he would take weeks over a single foot," biographer Baldinucci wrote about Carlo Dolci's painstaking painting process. According to Baldinucci, Dolci's final decline was triggered by Luca Giordano's 1682 visit to Florence. Luca joked that his own rapid style had brought him a fortune, but Dolci would starve if he kept taking so long. Already suffering from depression, Dolci plunged de
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1640s
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Culture
- Italian
- Department
- Paintings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
Carlo Dolci painted this as part of a series depicting the Four Evangelists. Matthew is depicted transcribing the opening words of his Gospel, which are accurately reproduced in Hebrew, the saint's native language. With characteristically detailed brushwork, Dolci meticulously describes the textures of the saint's wispy beard, the heavy softness of his robe, even the dirt under his fingernails. The artist’s refined, polished canvases appealed to seventeenth-century patrons, particularly in his native Florence. This series was painted for one of his confessors (probably Domenico Carpanti) and sold to him, according to a contemporary account, for the meagre price of five *scudi* a piece, scarcely enough to cover the cost of the artist’s materials. Such a gesture reflects the affection felt by the pious artist for his confessor, as well as his need to establish a reputation for himself at this early stage of his career.
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