St. Matthew,from Christ, the Apostles and St. Paul with the Creed

An elderly, bearded Saint Matthew is shown in a half-length portrait, looking down with a contemplative expression at an open book. He holds a large halberd over his shoulder, a traditional symbol of his martyrdom, set against a backdrop of craggy rocks and a small tree. The print displays the intricate, swelling line work typical of Hendrick Goltzius’s masterful engraving technique.

This work is part of a series pairing the Apostles with specific articles of the Creed, reflecting the late 16th-century preoccupation with mnemonic devotional structures. Goltzius was a central figure in the Haarlem Mannerist circle, which blended high technical artifice with the intellectual and philosophical currents of the Dutch Golden Age.