Saint Mark

Sermoneta, Girolamo Siciolante da, circle of 1521 - 1575

Summary

This small oil painting on copper, perhaps intended for a private chapel, depicts the half-length, bearded and haloed figure of St Mark. He faces slightly to his right, his eyes raised to Heaven, holding a quill pen in his raised right hand and the Gospel that he is writing in his left. He is shown in a mountainous desert landscape, with his usual symbol, a lion, in the bottom left corner. This is probably the work of an artist who worked closely with Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, a late Mannerist painter active in Rome. Despite its tiny size, this figure has a sculptural quality in keeping with Siciolante's style. This work is one of a pair with St Matthew, which is also in the collection of Manchester Art Galleries, inv. no. 1979.60.