Saint Paul Writing His Epistles

Public Domain

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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

On view

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Department

Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation

Object Type

PAINTING

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.

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