Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
St. Matthew is depicted receiving inspiration in composing his Gospel from a divinely sent, winged human figure, one of the four winged creatures described in Revelation that were understood as symbolizing the four Evangelists. This painting is from a series of the Four Evangelists that is datable to around 1616 by comparison to a similar, dated series. By contorting the Evangelist's body in a cramped space against a black background, Wtewael (pronounced "oo-te-vahl") increases our sense of the saint's stress and concentration. This artificial manipulation is visually intriguing but old fashioned at a time when Bloemaert and others were turning to greater naturalism.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
26502
label
Saint Matthew
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
26502
sourceUrl
contentType
drawing
stage
normalized
title
Saint Matthew
description
St. Matthew is depicted receiving inspiration in composing his Gospel from a divinely sent, winged human figure, one of the four winged creatures described in Revelation that were understood as symbolizing the four Evangelists. This painting is from a series of the Four Evangelists that is datable to around 1616 by comparison to a similar, dated series. By contorting the Evangelist's body in a cramped space against a black background, Wtewael (pronounced "oo-te-vahl") increases our sense of the saint's stress and concentration. This artificial manipulation is visually intriguing but old fashioned at a time when Bloemaert and others were turning to greater naturalism.
provenance
Wedewer Collection Sale, Cologne, May 1, 1899 [no. 90, as by H. Goltzius]; Howard Collection sale, Christie's, New York, June, 1984; Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 1984, by purchase.
date
ca. 1616 (Baroque)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Painting & Drawing
paintings
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
78.7
height
62
dimensionsRaw
31 x 24 7/16 in. (78.7 x 62 cm)
Source extras
med
oil on panel
creator_ids
3613
collection_ids
BAR
exhibition_ids
963
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
e466d94ce4645818