Gian Lorenzo Bernini was one of the most successful sculptors and architects of seventeenth-century Rome. This image of Saints Andrew and Thomas is an early work and one of the few paintings he made. Saint Andrew, a fisherman, is identified by the fish and the book (probably a reference to the Acts of Andrew, an apocryphal text written by him). Saint Thomas, a carpenter, is identified by the set square clasped in his right hand.
The two saints, both apostles, were friends and contemporaries, but Bernini was not trying to depict a particular discussion that they were known to have had. Instead he has created a contrast between age and youth, teacher and student. Andrew, balding and grey-haired, points to a passage in his book and turns to explain it to the youthful, animated Thomas, who looks on intensely as understanding begins to dawn on his face. A painting by Andrea Sacchi, Bernini’s contemporary, also depicts two saints and has a similar format and dimensions; it is also in the National Gallery’s collection.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was one of the most successful and influential creative figures of seventeenth-century Rome. He was multi talented – a brilliant sculptor and also responsible for town-planning schemes, the design of the fountain in the middle of Piazza Navona and the construction and remodelling of several of the city’s churches, including the great colonnade in front of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. He made few paintings, however; this image of Saints Andrew and Thomas is a rarity and also his earliest documented picture.
He has created an intensely atmospheric scene. It owes much to the dramatic lighting and close-cropped framing that had been pioneered in Rome by Caravaggio a couple of decades earlier, which was still highly fashionable in the 1620s. It is a technique which makes the figures seem more immediate and closer to the viewer. Bernini enhances the effect here with the highlights on the pointing finger, which make it seem to protrude forward out of the picture space, and also the dead fish which lies on a ledge in the foreground of the painting.
The fish might seem a strange addition to the scene, but it is a conventional way of identifying Saint Andrew, who was a fisherman. The book he is reading is also a traditional attribute, probably a reference to the Acts of Andrew, an apocryphal text written about him. The other saint is Thomas, identifiable by the set square clasped in his right hand. This alludes to his profession as a carpenter and to an episode in the Acts of Thomas, also apocryphal, in which he is described as being summoned to build a palace for a king in India.
The two saints were both apostles, two of the twelve disciples who were the earliest followers of Christ. Andrew and Thomas were contemporaries and friends, but Bernini was not trying to depict a particular event or discussion that they were known to have had. Instead he has created a contrast between age and youth, teacher and student. Andrew, balding and grey-haired, points to a passage in his book and turns to explain it to the youthful, animated Thomas, who looks on intensely as understanding begins to dawn on his face.
This painting is listed in an inventory of the Barberini collection in Rome, dated 1 June 1627 (though probably drawn up a few years earlier). Bernini’s most important patron was Maffeo Barberini, who became Pope Urban VIII in 1623. Indeed, Bernini himself oversaw the building of the Palazzo Barberini from 1629 until its completion in 1633. However, it’s not clear if this painting was a commissioned work or if it was simply acquired by or presented to the Barberini family by the artist.
An argument has been made that the painting may be a companion to another picture of two saints by Andrea Sacchi, also in the National Gallery collection. However, the precise relationship between the two is uncertain.
