Saint Simon

A set of apostles was a standing order in Counter-Reformation Spain. Buyers wanted a dozen half-length figures on dark grounds, each recognisable by one object, and workshops supplied them the way a printer supplies a series. This Simon belongs to the group of thirteen canvases the Prado still keeps together, painted in the early 1630s, and it comes with the saw that stands for his martyrdom in Persia alongside Jude. The set is openly uneven. The museum says some of its pictures were largely left to the workshop while others are close, searching studies of a real face. Carlos IV bought this one, which had been hanging in the Casita del Príncipe at El Escorial, and from there it came to the Prado.