Luke the Evangelist

Luke the Evangelist at the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, painted around 1615, is an early work depicting the patron saint of painters. The youthful Guercino's treatment shows him already developing his distinctive chiaroscuro manner. Guercino's vivid early style, with its bold chiaroscuro and emotional immediacy, gave way after 1621 to a more classical manner influenced by the taste of Rome, creating two distinct bodies of work that represent the Baroque's competing impulses toward drama and order.

The evangelist is depicted with his traditional bull attribute and writing implements. The early dramatic lighting shows Guercino absorbing the influence of the Carracci school and emerging as an original talent.