St Matthew the Evangelist

Saint Matthew the Evangelist, in Copenhagen, presents the gospel writer with his traditional attribute of the angel. The work's later date suggests it may be a workshop production after an Annibale design, as the master's declining health in his final decade meant increasing reliance on assistants. Annibale Carracci's reform of Italian painting in the late sixteenth century, combining the lessons of Raphael and Michelangelo with close naturalistic observation, established the foundations for Baroque classicism and shaped European painting for two centuries.

The evangelist is shown in the act of writing, the angel whispering divine inspiration. The composition follows a well-established format, with the desk, book, and attendant angel arranged in a clear, legible spatial relationship.