Saint Paul Writing His Epistles

CultureFrench
Titles
  • Saint Paul Writing His Epistles
Datec. 1618-20
PlaceRome, Italy
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsCanvas: 39 1/8 x 52 3/8 in. (99.4 x 133 cm)

Credit LineSarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston
Object numberBF.1991.4
Current Location
The Audrey Jones Beck Building
215 Blaffer Galleries
Exposé

Explore Further

Object Type
DescriptionThe striking contrast between light and shadow, together with the simplicity of the half-length figure of Saint Paul, reveal this composition’s debt to Caravaggio, whose radical paintings were enormously influential in the early 17th century. This painting is three compositions superimposed on a single canvas. Underneath the image of Saint Paul Writing His Epistles is a Christ Crowned with Thorns. The head of Christ is now visible to the naked eye, upside down in the table. X-rays indicate that the bottom layer of paint shows an artist at his easel (possibly a self-portrait). The layering of compositions may be the result of the young artist's poverty, forcing him to reuse the canvas of apparently unsuccessful paintings.

ProvenanceJ. Seymour-Maynard, 16 Prince Edward Mansions, Pembridge Square, London; [Christie’s, London, January 29, 1954, lot 54, as by Orazio Gentileschi, purchased by Schiff]; Richard C. Pritchard, Kingston Langley, Chippenham, Wiltshire, England; by descent; [Christie’s, London, July 5, 1991, lot 68, as by Tournier]; purchased by the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, 1991.
Exhibition History“Masterpieces of European Painting from the 15th to 20th Centuries from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation," The Museum of Art, Ehime, Matsuyama, Japan, April 13–May 30, 1999; Chiba Prefectural Art Museum, Japan, June 5–July 11, 1999; Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan, July 17–August 22, 1999; Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan, August 27–October 3, 1999.

"Nicolas Tournier (1590-1639)," Museé des Augustins, Toulouse, France, March 29–July 2, 2001.

"Hidden Layers: Painting and Process in Europe, 1500–1800," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 26–September 3, 2018.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Diogenes Casting Away His Cup
Salvator Rosa
c. 1660
Oil on canvas
BF.2004.10
Tobias Healing His Father's Blindness
Mattia Preti
Late 1670s
Oil on canvas
BF.1984.25
The Stigmatization of Saint Francis
Orazio Gentileschi
c. 1600–1601
Oil on canvas
BF.2008.11
Martyrdom of Saint Venantius of Camerino
Scarsellino
c. 1600
Oil on canvas
BF.1982.12
Portrait of a Lady as Saint Agnes
Paolo Veronese
1580s
Oil on canvas
BF.1982.14
Saint John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness
Anton Raphael Mengs
1760s?
Oil on canvas
BF.1980.2
Madonna and Child with Saint John The Baptist
Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
c. 1616
Oil on canvas
BF.1983.2
Saint Carlo Borromeo
Carlo Maratta
17th century
Oil on canvas
BF.1978.25
Saint John the Evangelist Called to Write the Revelation
Benjamin West
1797
Oil on five sheets of paper mounted on canvas, itself mounted on wood
BF.1985.12
Saint Sebastian
Simon Vouet
c. 1625
Oil on canvas
BF.1990.5