Saints Peter and Paul
Bartolomeo Manfredi Italian
The tradition of treating Saints Peter and Paul in a double portrait originates in late Byzantine icons. Here, an early follower of Caravaggio updated this iconography in a Baroque mode, engaging a strong light source from the left and carefully depicting the idiosyncrasies of his models’ faces rather than relying on idealized types. Stylistic and technical analysis suggest that this painting may have been executed by two artists: the senior painter Manfredi for Saint Peter and his French acolyte and pupil in Rome, Nicolas Tournier, for Saint Paul. If so, it may have functioned as a personal token of friendship, or been fashioned for an astute collector attuned to how Caravaggio’s style was disseminated among artists in Rome.
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