Saint Paul

An apostle in a horizontal frame

Paul is identified by a sword and a book, and the pairing has held for so long that either one alone will usually do. What is worth reading in this entry is the measurement. The dimensions are 97 x 120 cm — wider than tall, which is not the shape a standing apostle takes. A horizontal format for a single figure implies something specific: a half-length seen close, a body turned across the picture, or a table for the book to rest on. The record establishes the proportion; what fills it is not described here, because describing it would mean claiming to see the image rather than to read the entry.

What the record holds

The catalogue dates the canvas to 1637 and gives Private Collection as its location. It is filed under male portraiture and Religion, with Tenebrism as the style and Spanish as the nationality; the measured colour family is red.

An artist represented 8 times here

This collection holds 8 works by this painter, and the pattern across their entries is consistent: single saints, tenebrist lighting, Spanish nationality, and titles that name a figure rather than an incident. That is a fact about how this catalogue was assembled rather than a summary of a career — a collection built around saints admits an artist through the subjects that qualify. It does explain what a reader following the name will find on the neighbouring pages.