Art of the Apostles
33 artworks found
The twelve are usually painted as a group and identified individually, each with an attribute — most of them instruments of their deaths. A row of apostles is a row of men holding the thing that killed them, calmly.
Christ Giving the Keys to Saint Peter by Giovanni Battista Pittoni - Framed Canvas
By: Giovanni Battista Pittoni
Christ Washing St. Peter's Feet by Giovanni Agostino da Lodi - Framed Canvas
By: Giovanni Agostino da Lodi
Crucifixion of Saint Andrew by Frans Francken the Younger - Matte Canvas
By: Frans Francken the Younger
Christ between the Virgin and St John the Baptist by Jan Gossaert - Framed Canvas
By: Jan Gossaert
Madonna and Child with St Petronius and St John the Evangelist by Domenichino - Framed Canvas
By: Domenichino
Domine, quo vadis? by Annibale Carracci - Matte Canvas
By: Annibale Carracci
Doubting Thomas by Sebastián López de Arteaga - Framed Canvas
By: Sebastián López de Arteaga
Madonna and Child with St Justus of Volterra and St Margaret of Antioch by Bastiano Mainardi - Framed Canvas
By: Bastiano Mainardi
Madonna col Bambino tra i santi Giovanni evangelista e Nicola di Bari by Cima da Conegliano - Framed Canvas
By: Cima da Conegliano
Liberation of Saint Peter by Battistello Caracciolo - Framed Canvas
By: Battistello Caracciolo
Pentecost by Jean Restout - Framed Canvas
By: Jean Restout
Pentecost II by Juan Bautista Maíno - Framed Canvas
By: Juan Bautista Maíno
Pentecostés by Antonio Palomino - Framed Canvas
By: Antonio Palomino
Saint James the Great's Vision of the Virgin Mary by Nicolas Poussin - Framed Canvas
By: Nicolas Poussin
Saint Bartholomew by José de Ribera - Framed Canvas
By: José de Ribera
Saint Jude Thaddeus by José de Ribera - Framed Canvas
By: José de Ribera
Saint Paul Writing by Pier Francesco Sacchi - Framed Canvas
By: Pier Francesco Sacchi
Saint Philip by Lorenzo Costa - Framed Canvas
By: Lorenzo Costa
Saints John the Evangelist, Scholastica and Benedict by Master of Liesborn - Framed Canvas
By: Master of Liesborn
St. Luke Displaying a Painting of the Virgin by Guercino - Framed Canvas
By: Guercino
Saint Paul the Hermit by José de Ribera - Framed Canvas
By: José de Ribera
St. Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger - Framed Canvas
By: Hans Holbein the Younger
St Peter Enthroned with Saints by Cima da Conegliano - Framed Canvas
By: Cima da Conegliano
The Calling of St Peter and St Andrew by Pietro da Cortona - Framed Canvas
By: Pietro da Cortona
Eucharist (The Seven Sacraments) by Nicolas Poussin - Framed Canvas
By: Nicolas Poussin
The Last Supper by Hans Holbein the Younger - Framed Canvas
By: Hans Holbein the Younger
The Four Evangelists by Jacob Jordaens - Framed Canvas
By: Jacob Jordaens
The Road to Emmaus by Altobello Melone - Framed Canvas
By: Altobello Melone
The Last Supper by Philippe de Champaigne - Framed Canvas
By: Philippe de Champaigne
The Last Supper by Carl Bloch - Framed Canvas
By: Carl Bloch
The Miraculous Haul of Fishes by Henry Ossawa Tanner - Matte Canvas
By: Henry Ossawa Tanner
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt - Framed Canvas
By: Rembrandt
Última Cena by Juan de Juanes - Framed Canvas
By: Juan de Juanes
Identifying the apostles
Peter has keys, and by convention a broad face and short curling beard; Paul, not one of the twelve but always included, has a sword and is bald and long-bearded. Andrew carries the diagonal cross that bears his name. Bartholomew carries a flaying knife, and occasionally his own skin. Thomas has a builder's square, from the tradition of his mission to India, or reaches toward the wound.
The subject that drew the best painting is the moment of ordinary life interrupted: the calling of Matthew from his counting table, Peter and Andrew hauling nets. These gave painters what they wanted — working men in a recognisable room or shore, and a single event cutting across it. The Last Supper is the other great occasion, and the compositional problem there is entirely practical: how to seat thirteen men so that every face is legible and one of them is unmistakably guilty.
Doubting Thomas is the apostle subject painters returned to most often, and the reason is that it is about seeing. The picture asks the viewer to look closely at the act of looking closely, and the strongest versions — Caravaggio's above all — refuse to soften it.