Drag the print to move it. The painting is shown at true scale; where its shape differs from the sheet the print has a paper border, not drawn here. Prints are sold unframed, and a frame here is only for planning.
The Inspiration of Saint Matthew
1602 · oil on canvas · Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
For Saint Matthew · 21 September
Sizes
image 15.3×24 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
Printed to order · the whole painting, never cropped · if it arrives damaged, we replace it
Free shipping, included in the price, to all eight countries we ship to. Dispatched in 2–4 working days — nothing to send back if it arrives damaged.
Send as a gift
A printed card goes in the parcel with your message and the work’s museum record. No price is shown anywhere in the parcel. Enter the recipient’s address at checkout.
0 / 240Have a gift certificate?
The certificate’s balance is applied at checkout; any remainder is paid there. Check a balance or buy one.
Christmas: order by Monday 7 December for delivery in the United States before Christmas.
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