guido reni -- 7/5/24

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Today's selection-- from The Vatican by Anja Grebe. Reni’s striking painting St. Matthew and the Angel, circa 1640:

St. Matthew and the Angel, 1635-1640 85 x 68 cm; Oil on canvas; Pinacoteca; Room XII; Inv. 40395 

“Reni's depiction of the dialogue between St. Matthew the Evangelist and the angel is one of the Baroque master's most beautiful creations. The use of color, the close cropping of the picture, with its diagonal positioning of the Evangelist's upper body, the tension-filled chiaroscuro, and the careful highlighting of the hair and fingers are reminiscent of the work of Caravaggio, who was regarded at the time as Reni's artistic adversary. 

"As in Caravaggio's St. Matthew cycle in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Reni represents the inspiration of the aged-looking Evangelist as an angel, who appears to be communicating the verses of the gospel via his hypnotic gaze rather than by means of the spoken word. The angel's hand gesture, however, indicates direct speech, which Matthew carefully records with a quill on the blank pages of his book. Numerous collectors apparently wanted this relatively small composition for their private art cabinets and Reni made with his own hand a number of copies of the original picture, which is in the collection of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. The version in the Pinacoteca differs from the original only in its greater use of impasto and darker tones, typical of Reni's late works dating from 1635-40.”

author:	Anja Grebe
title:	Vatican: All the Paintings: The Complete Collection of Old Masters, Plus More than 300 Sculptures, Maps, Tapestries, and other Artifacts
publisher:	Black Dog & Leventhal
pages:	129