Follower of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1620s

By family tradition said to have been acquired at auction in England by an ancestor of the present owner's late father.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has had a recent lining and fairly old stretcher, with some partial cleaning of the heads, hands and foreground papers. Old darkened retouching can be seen along the upper edge and down the edges on both sides. The right edge has been rather more knocked than the left or the top. There is a short old tear in the top right corner, where a glimpse of distant light behind a cloud can be seen, but it was not possible to tell whether any of the edges had been trimmed. St John's forehead has a minor recent scrape. Slight old wear can be seen in the dark curls of St John and in the darks at the left side of St Matthew's head, but the heads are largely in beautiful condition as are the hands and the papers they are holding. These areas, which have recently been lightly cleaned, have a few minor retouchings, including strengthening touches in St Mattthew's eyes and perhaps in some of the highlights in his hair and wrinkles on his brow. However the magnificent modelling visible in the lighter areas, which are not muffled by old varnish, shows the remarkable quality and fine preservation of the painting generally. This painting was not done under laboratory conditions.
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There is no doubt that this painting is by a Caravaggesque painter active in Rome, influenced by Simon Vouet, but not necessarily of French origin. The painting most likely dates from the 1620s.

The two men depicted are clearly saints - their haloes are just visible against the dark background - but the absence of any symbols means their identification is by no means certain. The youthful male on the right is probably Saint John the Evangelist, the presumed author of the fourth gospel, and he is shown discussing a text with an elderly man, probably Saint Matthew, traditionally identified as the author of the first gospel. The latter’s blue-and-yellow clothes are, however, more usually worn by Saint Peter, whom Saint John often accompanied during the apostolic ministry. If the men depicted are presumed to be Matthew and John, the painting most likely had a pendant representing the other two evangelists, Mark and Luke.