Der Apostel Matthäus

Around 1619 Van Dyck was barely 20 and still working in the shadow of Rubens, whose busy Antwerp studio he had recently joined. He had seen Rubens paint a set of Christ and the apostles, and he set out to do his own. This head of Matthew comes from that series, worked up fast in loose, visible strokes; you can pick out the separate touches in the hair and the cloak. Matthew holds a halberd, the long axe-blade said to be the weapon of his martyrdom. Most of the set was scattered long ago and only about eight of the panels survive. This one is the only apostle from that youthful series that hangs in Belgium today.