Saint Matthias the Apostle
- Style
- Late Baroque
- Date
- 1721
- Material and technique
- Oil painting on canvas
- Size
- High 2.37 x width 1.48 m
- Location
- The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Wroclaw, Poland
- Description
- The apostle is repositioned en pied in the centre of the composition in a semi-crouch (towards the lower right-hand corner of the painting); his left leg is stretched forward and his hands are crossed on his chest. She stands barefoot on an irregular rock platform (greys and ochres). At its edge to the left lies a white bellow on a ledger against which a slanted axe is leaning with its spar. Behind and above the saint's head is a view of an overcast sky (blues, greys, yellows) with three winged heads in the clouds on the left and an angel seated on a cloud on the right; he has a red drapery around his hips and his hands folded in prayer. The apostle is dressed in a knee-length, olive-coloured robe with a large round neckline and rolled-up sleeves, and an ultramarine-coloured drapery wrapping his body from his left shoulder to his bare feet. He is a man in his prime, a brunet with slicked-back hair, beard and moustache.
