The incredulity of St Thomas

Doubting Thomas was among the most popular subjects for Caravaggist painters, who relished the dramatic potential of physical contact with the divine. Stom painted this version around 1635 during his years in Sicily, where he had settled after working in Rome and Naples. The Tosio Martinengo Gallery in Brescia holds this work, which reflects the strong demand for candlelit biblical scenes among Italian collectors of the period. Stom's biblical subjects demonstrate the enduring vitality of the Caravaggist tradition in Sicily long after it had faded elsewhere in Europe.

A raking light from the left picks out Thomas’s probing finger and Christ’s wound with anatomical precision. The restricted palette of warm ochres against near-black backgrounds is characteristic of Stom’s mature Sicilian manner.