Saint Paul

Vincenzo Foppa's Saint Paul presents the apostle to the Gentiles with his characteristic attributes — the sword of martyrdom and the epistles — in the formal devotional pose appropriate to altarpiece panels depicting individual saints. Foppa's Paul demonstrates the mature figure style he developed as Lombardy's dominant painter: the combination of Mantegna's sculptural clarity with the softer light and more accessible emotional register characteristic of his own contribution to northern Italian painting. The saint's intellectual authority is conveyed through his concentrated gaze and the gesture toward his text.

Foppa's solid, volumetric figure style gives Saint Paul an imposing physical presence, with the characteristic muted palette and naturalistic modeling that established the foundations of the Lombard painting tradition.