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The sheet at its true proportions, the rule and the doorway at the same scale. The painting is printed whole; where its shape differs from the sheet, the print has a paper border, drawn here.
The Inspiration of Saint Matthew
1602 · oil on canvas · Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
For Saint Matthew · 21 September
Sizes
image 14.4×22.5 in on a 18×24 in sheet
What is dpi?
Dots per inch: how many pixels of the museum’s file go into each inch of paper. Our floor is 240 for sheets up to 20 inches, 180 up to 36 inches and 120 beyond, because a larger print is seen from further away. We never offer a sheet below the floor, and the number on each size is the one you receive.
Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gsm cotton rag · pigment inks · printed to order · sold unframed
Printed to order · the whole painting, never cropped · if it arrives damaged, we replace it
Shipping included in the price to the eight countries we ship to · dispatched in 2–4 working days · replaced if it arrives damaged, nothing to send back.
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All editionsAbout this painting
Saint Matthew looks up with one knee on a stool, and above him an angel counts on his fingers. The Web Gallery of Art reads the angel as setting out, in the scholastic fashion, the arguments the saint should take down, while Matthew balances in precarious equilibrium, like a modern schoolboy; Dermot Morrin OP sees the stool about to fall forward. In Caravaggio's first version, the Gallery notes, the angel guided the saint's uncertain hand; it was criticised for lack of decorum, and Giustiniani bought it. Bellori tells how the priests had it removed. Here a whirlwind of drapery wraps the angel, and the pen is Matthew's own.
Sources: Saint-Louis-des-Français, Rome, 'Les Caravages', read 2026-09-06 · Web Gallery of Art, Caravaggio, 'The Inspiration of Saint Matthew', Contarelli Chapel, commentary, read 2026-09-06 · Web Gallery of Art, Caravaggio, 'St Matthew and the Angel' (first version), commentary, read 2026-09-06 · Dermot Morrin OP, 'Caravaggio's St Matthew and the Angel', Dominicans of Scotland, read 2026-09-06 · Wikipedia, 'Paintings in the Contarelli Chapel', quoting Bellori, Le vite (1672) and Baglione (1642), read 2026-09-06 · Wikipedia, 'The Inspiration of Saint Matthew', read 2026-09-06