1670
oil
canvas
From the collection of J. Paul Getty Museum
Dominant colour
St. Matthew Writing His Gospel is a 1670 oil by Carlo Dolci, a Early Baroque Italian work, depicting John the Evangelist, held at J. Paul Getty Museum.
This painting depicts a man with a halo, seated and writing on a piece of paper. He is dressed in a blue robe with a pink cloak draped over his left shoulder. To his left, a small cherub with wings and curly hair looks on, holding a small gray pot. The background of the painting is black. The man's attention is focused on his writing, and the cherub seems to be watching him intently. The use of color and light in the painting creates a sense of depth and dimensionality. The artist's use of chiaroscuro, a technique that uses strong contrasts between light and dark to create a sense of volume, adds to the overall effect of the painting. To learn more about this technique, look up chiaroscuro.
Carlo (or Carlino) Dolci (25 May 1616 – 17 January 1686) was an Italian Baroque painter active mainly in Florence, known for highly finished religious pictures, often repeated in many versions.
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