This painting is a copy of an original created by Caravaggio around 1602. Originally intended as an alter-piece for a Church in Rome, it was rejected by the patrons as they found it to be vulgar and tasteless; the Saint was depicted as a course working man with his bare feet very visible in the foreground. It eventually found its way to Berlin but was sadly destroyed during World War 2, presumed burned. It survives only by an old black and white photograph. The artist (Craig McMaster) invented the colours in this copy, mostly based on research of other Caravaggio paintings created around 1602.
There is a very old Christian artistic tradition linking St Matthew with an angel, but the Bible does not actually tell a story in which an angel comes to Matthew and dictates his Gospel. That image developed through Christian symbolism and later art. The intended theological idea is primarily divine inspiration, rather than a claim that an angel literally dictated the Gospel word-for-word.
The narrative of this painting could also be said to convey a connection between the physical and the spiritual worlds; the angel gently touches St Matthew and guides him. The artist, Craig McMaster therefore, could not imagine a better or more appropriate home for the painting than the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre, Edinburgh.
Craig McMaster gifted the painting to help celebrate and mark 125 years of Edinburgh Association of Spiritualists and 15 years of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre.
