The Four Evangelists: St. Luke
1518
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1518
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
The Four Evangelists: St. Luke is a 1518 by Unknown, a Renaissance work, depicting john the evangelist, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A man in red robes sits at a desk, writing in a book while an ox watches over his shoulder. The room is dark, with light falling only on his face and hands. This painting is one of four panels showing the Gospel writers. Each evangelist has a symbol—Luke’s is the ox. The artist used thin layers of paint to create soft shadows, a method common in early 1500s Italy. To see more works like this, look up Italy, 16th century.
