Saint Luke
Giorgio Vasari1570-1571
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
The _Saint Luke and Saint Mark_ panels were part of a commission from Pope Pius V in 1569 to decorate the newly built _Torre Pio (Pius Tower)_ in the Vatican. The project, for which Vasari was knighted by the pope, was finished in two years. In the upper chapel, dedicated to the Archangel Michael, Vasari’s _Coronation of the Virgin_ occupied the main altar while elaborately framed mirrors flanked either side of the chapel doorways. Large panel paintings of the four evangelists–_Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke_, and _Saint John_–were set within these mirrors. After 1750, the chapel complex was dismantled and the paintings were dispersed. _Saint Matthew_, _Saint John_, and the _Coronation_ altarpiece eventually went to churches in Livorno, Italy, while _Saint Luke and Saint Mark_ were held in private collections in Europe and the Americas, before their donation to the Gallery in 2012 by Damon Mezzacappa.
Saint Luke, patron saint of painters, with his attribute of a winged ox, is seen in the act of painting or drawing (a faint sketch of Madonna and Child is barely visible over his right shoulder).
Saint Mark, with his winged lion, writes his Gospel.
Both Evangelists twist and turn, larger than life, ready to burst from their confined space, evoking Michelangelo’s Sibyls and Prophets in the Sistine Chapel.
- Title: Saint Luke
- Creator: Giorgio Vasari
- Date Created: 1570-1571
- Physical Dimensions: overall: 177.8 × 99.1 cm (70 × 39 in.)
- Provenance: Commissioned 1569, with NGA 2012.79.1 (_Saint Mark_), by Pope Pius V for the Chapel of the Archangel Michael in the _Torre Pio_ of the Vatican Palace;[1] begun December 1570 and finished by June 1571; chapel dismantled after 1750. probably Charles Grignion II [1754-1804], Rome; his brother, Thomas Grignion [c. 1748-1821], London;[2] (sale, Christie's, London, 2 May 1807, no. 54, bought in); (sale, Christie's, London, 28-29 April 1809, no. 91); Sir Thomas Baring [1772-1848], Stratton Park, Hampshire; purchased from his estate by his son, Thomas Baring [1799-1873], London and Stratton Park; by inheritance to his nephew, Thomas George Baring, 1st earl of Northbrook [1826-1904], London and Stratton Park; by inheritance to his son, Francis George Baring, 2nd earl of Northbrook [1850-1929], London and Stratton Park; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 12 December 1919, no. 138 [with NGA 2012.79.1]); Vicars. (Galerie Charles Brunner, Paris), by 1929.[3] Don Lorenzo Pellerano, Buenos Aires; (his sale, Guerrico & Williams, Buenos Aires, October 1933, no. 971 [with NGA 2012.79.1 as no. 970]). (sale, Sotheby's, New York, 5 June 1986, no. 11 [with NGA 2012.79.1]); (Richard L. Feigen and Co., New York); sold to Damon Mezzacappa, Palm Beach, Florida; (sale, Sotheby's, New York, 11 January 1996, no. 55 [with NGA 2012.79.1], bought in); Damon Mezzacappa, Palm Beach, Florida; gift 2012 to NGA. [1] Provenance according to the 1996 sale catalogue. [2] Charles Grignion II, a British artist who lived and worked in Italy, acquired numerous paintings from prominent Italian aristocratic families in financial need. He apparently sent them to Thomas, his older brother and a watchmaker and clockmaker, for resale in England. See the description for Sale Catalog Br-487 in The Getty Provenance Index Database; copy in NGA curatorial files. [3] The paintings were numbers 2267 (_Saint Mark_) and 2268 (_Saint Luke_) in Brunner's stock; Brunner labels remain on the reverse of both panels.
- Medium: oil on panel
Get the app
Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more
