The Four Evangelists

This 1567 depiction of the Four Evangelists, held by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, is unusual in Beuckelaer's output: a straightforward devotional image without the market-scene overlay that characterises most of his work. The four Evangelists — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — each accompanied by their traditional symbolic attributes, are presented in a frontal, icon-like arrangement. The Dresden painting may reflect a specific commission requiring conventional religious imagery, or it may represent Beuckelaer exploring whether his figure-painting skills, mostly deployed in genre contexts, were equal to a purely theological subject. Dresden's collections were assembled with a particular emphasis on Northern European religious painting, and this work fits naturally into that institutional context. The painting demonstrates that Beuckelaer's range extended well beyond the market-scene format he is primarily remembered for.

Oil on panel with figure handling that shows Beuckelaer applying his developed figurative skills to a devotional context. The symbolic animals — ox for Luke, eagle for John, lion for Mark, angel for Matthew — are rendered with the same naturalistic care he brought to market livestock. Drapery in the Evangelists' robes is modelled in the Flemish tradition with layered glazes and opaque highlights. The compositional arrangement is more formal and symmetrical than in his genre works, reflecting the devotional function of the image.