Artwork
Saint Luke
Saint Luke is an oil painting by the Mannerist artist Giorgio Vasari. It dates from 1570 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work belongs to the religious genre and reflects the tradition of portraying saints in acts of piety.
The painting depicts Saint Luke the Evangelist in the act of painting the Virgin, highlighting his dual role as author of the Gospel and as a visual chronicler of the sacred. In this composition Vasari presents Luke with the tools of both scribe and artist, emphasizing the connection between evangelical testimony and the artistic representation of divine narrative. The work belongs to the religious genre and reflects the tradition of portraying saints in acts of piety.
Technique & Style
Saint Luke is executed in oil on panel, measuring 177.8 by 99.1 cm, a large, elongated vertical format suited to its function as part of a paired set with a pendant Saint Mark. Stylistically, it belongs to Vasari's mature late-Mannerist manner, in which the figure of Saint Luke painting the Virgin is rendered with the polished surfaces, balanced composition, and refined handling of color and light characteristic of his Vatican commissions of the early 1570s. The panel has survived a complex provenance involving multiple private collections and several auction sales before entering the National Gallery of Art in 2012.
History & Provenance
The painting was commissioned in 1569 by Pope Pius V, together with a pendant Saint Mark, for the Chapel of the Archangel Michael in the Torre Pio of the Vatican Palace. Giorgio Vasari began the panel in December 1570 and completed it by June 1571. The chapel was dismantled after 1750, after which the work passed probably to Charles Grignion II in Rome and then to his brother Thomas Grignion in London.
It appeared at Christie's sales in London on 2 May 1807 (bought in) and again on 28–29 April 1809. Sir Thomas Baring acquired it for Stratton Park, Hampshire, and it descended through his son Thomas Baring to his nephew Thomas George Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook, and then to Francis George Baring, 2nd Earl of Northbrook. It was sold at Christie's on 12 December 1919, passed through Galerie Charles Brunner in Paris by 1929, and was owned by Don Lorenzo Pellerano in Buenos Aires before a 1933 sale there.
Subsequent sales at Sotheby's New York in 1986 and 1996 bracketed ownership by Richard L. Feigen and Co. and Damon Mezzacappa, who gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in 2012, where it bears accession number 2012.79.2.
Overview
Giorgio Vasari's Saint Luke, created in 1570, is an oil on panel painting depicting Luke the Evangelist. This work exemplifies the Mannerist style prevalent in the late Italian Renaissance. Vasari, a prominent Florentine figure, was celebrated for his diverse contributions as a painter, architect, and art historian, and this piece reflects his artistic approach within that broader context.
Context
Giorgio Vasari was a pivotal figure of the Italian Renaissance, renowned not only for his artistic output but also for his foundational text, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. As a court artist and historian, his paintings, including Saint Luke, are integral to understanding his multifaceted career. They demonstrate his engagement with the stylistic trends of his era while contributing to his legacy as both a practitioner and chronicler of art.
Artist & collection
Artist
Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer known for his work Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, considered…
