Saint Mark

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.