Saint Paul

The Master of the Pala Sforzesca's Saint Paul in the National Gallery is a panel from what appears to have been a larger altarpiece, showing the Apostle Paul — identified by his sword and book — in the standing saint format typical of altarpiece wings. The Master, whose name derives from the Sforza court altarpiece in Milan's Brera, was a Lombard painter working in the orbit of Leonardo's influence in the 1490s, absorbing the master's sfumato and psychological modeling while remaining within the altarpiece production tradition. Paul's sword and epistle were the standard attributes identifying the apostle who never met Jesus in the flesh but became Christianity's greatest theologian.

Paul stands holding his sword and a book or scroll in a shallow architectural space. The Master's Lombard training shows in the warm, Leonardesque modeling of the face and the carefully rendered drapery. The figure's posture has the quiet authority expected of the apostle who authored half the New Testament.