St Matthew

Bronzino's Saint Matthew belongs to his production of religious works alongside his celebrated secular portraits and mythological panels. As a court painter to Cosimo I de' Medici, Bronzino received significant religious commissions for Florentine churches and private chapels, bringing his Mannerist elegance to devotional subjects. His Matthew, one of the four Evangelists whose Gospels formed the foundation of Christian scripture, would have been represented with his characteristic writing materials and possibly the angel who in tradition dictated the Gospel to him. Bronzino's cool, precise figure style gives the evangelist an intellectual intensity appropriate to his scriptural authority.

The work shows Bronzino's early adoption of Pontormo's pale, luminous palette and sinuous figural style, with the cool, enamel-like surface finish that would become his hallmark.