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Why was Caravaggio’s first version of Saint Matthew and the Angel rejected?
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Caravaggio
The Conversion of St. Paul (second version), oil on canvas by Caravaggio, 1601; in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.
Caravaggio’s first version of Saint Matthew and the Angel was rejected by his church patrons because it was perceived as lacking the necessary decorum for a religious work.1
In this initial painting, Caravaggio depicted Saint Matthew as a poor, illiterate peasant with gnarled features, rough hands, and dirty feet prominently displayed in the foreground while he sat in a simple Savonarola chair. The patrons found this aggressive insistence on the theme of holy poverty offensive, as it portrayed the saint in a way they considered undignified. Consequently, the painting was rejected, and Caravaggio was forced to produce a second version that depicted Matthew as a more decorous scholar saint in dignified robes, guided by a less familiar angel.1