Saint Luke Painting the Virgin

This painting shows Saint Luke painting the Virgin and Child. Luke wrote one of the four Gospels and is the patron saint of painters, since some believe he painted icons of the Virgin. Giordano plays on his birth name Luca (Luke in Italian) and profession in this work, and gave his own likeness to this depiction of the saint painting an image of Mary on a canvas supported by angels. As the Virgin poses for her portrait, winged children act as studio assistants in the act of grinding pigments. More angels support the hovering Virgin, imbuing the otherwise everyday scene with an air of miraculous apparition.