St. Paul the Hermit

Jusepe de Ribera executed this powerful image of Saint Paul the Hermit, the first Christian hermit who spent ninety years in the Egyptian desert. The aged saint sits with his long white beard and weathered skin, his body wasted by decades of fasting and prayer. A raven, which according to legend brought him daily bread, appears nearby.

Ribera spent his career in Naples, where he became famous for intensely realistic depictions of elderly saints and martyrs. His Baroque tenebrism, learned from Caravaggio's followers, creates dramatic contrasts of light and shadow. The painting hangs at the Louvre in Paris.