St Matthew

Donated by Vojtěch Lanna in 1884. The impressive depiction of Matthew the Apostle is one of the portraits of the apostles done by Augsburg-based engraver J. L. Haid after models by G. B. Piazetta, a major figure in 18th-century Venetian painting. Piazzetta’s cycle of apostles was first reproduced in mezzotint by Italian engraver Marco Pitteri in 1742. Pitteri’s expressive portraits echoed far and wide and his set was copied several times - among others, by Haid. The set starts with rather conventional depictions of God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. The faces of the apostles, however, are rendered in a creative range of types, expressions and head positions - only two look directly at the viewer. By essentially turning the apostle’s back to the viewer, the painter highlighted the contemplative nature of the portrait.