Pieter Lastman

Shown in the midst of divine inspiration, Saint Matthew, one of the four Evangelists, receives direct transmission of the Word of God from an angel. Pieter Lastman gives Saint Matthew a sense of gravity and weight both physical and symbolic by deeply modeling his substantial form and placing his bare foot upon a stone slab. A Dutch painter working a generation after Hendrik Goltzius and Joachim Wtewael, Lastman played a role in shifting the focus of Dutch art from Mannerist artifice to clarity of both form and narrative. His paint handling reveals brushstrokes on the surface of the painting, signaling a simultaneous shift to more expressive painting methods that draw attention to the artist’s hand.