St Thomas Aquinas (oil on silvered copper)

This is one of a set of small religious scenes at Petworth, comprising of eight subjects. Originally there may have been additional figures, including, it is generally supposed, a St.Laurence and a Sacrifice of Isaac. The same series of ten subjects is repeated in copies, in the style of Poelenburgh, in the Uffizi. The original purpose of these pictures may have been the decoration of a piece of furniture. A set of paintings similar in composition but of mediocre standard, is used for the purpose of embellishing the drawers of a Dutch 17th century cabinet at Penshurst. The Petworth pictures were bought by the 10th Earl of Northumberland in 1645, from the famous collection of the 1st Duke of Buckingham, and were placed in individual Rococo frames by Joseph Duffour in 1752. Elsheimer was a great friend of Rubens, and also influenced him stylistically.