Description
Saint Matthew appears half-length against a gold ground, holding a quill, an inkpot and an open book. His grey hair and beard contrast with the red and pale green of his garments. Simone Martini painted this small panel around 1315–1320.
It once belonged to a predella of ten apostle portraits beneath a larger, now-dismembered altarpiece. Today it is in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, as part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection.
Writing turns this small image into a scene of intellectual work. Pen, book and inkpot are not interchangeable accessories: they form a sequence of gestures leading from the saint’s hand to the open pages. The viewer can imagine a text in the course of being written even though the figure is almost motionless. Matthew is therefore presented not merely as a venerable person, but as a witness entrusted with preserving and transmitting words for others to read.
