Saint Paul the Hermit (c. 1662–64): Art, History and Details

Saint Paul the Hermit (c. 1662–64) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Mattia Preti (Italian, 1613–1699).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

After training in Rome in the 1630s and 1640s, Preti went to Naples where he continued working in a mode inspired by the work of Caravaggio. In this painting, dramatic lighting and intense naturalism depict the intersection of the heavenly and earthly realms. According to Catholic tradition, Saint Paul the Hermit fled into the desert to escape persecution from the Romans in the third century, and is revered as the first of many hermit saints. A raven brought Saint Paul a half a loaf of bread daily, which enabled him to survive to the age of 113 years. Preti depicted the saint looking heavenward in appreciation and awe of his heavenly provider.

Object facts

• Title: Saint Paul the Hermit
• Date: c. 1662–64
• Creator attribution: Mattia Preti (Italian, 1613–1699)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 121 x 94 x 8 cm (47 5/8 x 37 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 103 x 76.2 cm (40 9/16 x 30 in.)
• Collection: P - Italian 16th & 17th Century
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1969.109

A detail from the museum

Clothed only in a rough woven cloth, Paul's suffering drew him spiritually closer to Christ.

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.
• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1969.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 1 (1970): 2–50.
• Schloder, John E., and Cleveland Museum of Art. Baroque Imagery. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1984.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.