The Incredulity of Saint Thomas

Giorgio Vasari's Incredulity of Saint Thomas, now in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, depicts the post-Resurrection encounter in which the doubting apostle Thomas touches the wounds of Christ to confirm his risen presence. Santa Croce, the great Franciscan church in Florence and the burial place of Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo, was a prestigious location for religious paintings, and a work there by Vasari would have been viewed in the context of both Florentine civic pride and Franciscan spiritual traditions. The Thomas narrative carried important apologetic significance in the Counter-Reformation period as evidence of physical Resurrection against Protestant challenges to Catholic doctrine. Vasari's treatment, likely executed in the context of his long engagement with Florentine religious institutions, would have used his full Mannerist repertoire to give the moment dramatic theological weight.

The oil on canvas medium allows Vasari the range of handling he needs for this intimate yet theologically charged encounter. Christ's luminous risen body would contrast with the darker tonalities surrounding Thomas and the other apostles, with the central gesture of the touching finger drawing the eye directly to the wound as both narrative crux and doctrinal statement.