San Mateo y el ángel

For more than 50 years this canvas hung under the wrong name. From 1955 it was catalogued as the work of a minor Bolognese painter, Lucio Massari, and only in 2010 was it handed back to Guido Reni, one of the most admired artists of his time. The proof was physical: a 1642 document found on the back of the painting identifying it. Reni shows the evangelist Matthew as an old man interrupted mid-sentence, twisting toward a young angel who leans in close to dictate the Gospel. It is late Reni, the paint thin and silvery, the drama kept quiet. The two heads, one lined and bearded, one smooth and boyish, are set almost cheek to cheek.