Saint Matthew(?)

Ugolino was one of the most important pupils of Duccio, the preeminent painter in Siena during the late-thirteenth and early-fourteenth centuries. This painting, one of three by Ugolino in the Robert Lehman Collection, is a bust-length representation of a bearded saint. His identity remains uncertain given the absence of any attributes, but it has been suggested that he is the apostle and gospel writer Matthew. The panel has been cut down on all sides and originally formed the side panel of a large altarpiece. The central panel may be the "Saint Anne and the Young Virgin" (National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa), and the altarpiece may have come from the important hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena.