Saint Luke

The Mughal emperors keenly collected European paintings and engravings, many of which were brought to the court in the late 16th and early 17th century by successive Jesuit missions who travelled to Delhi, Agra and Lahore from Portuguese Goa. The artists employed by the emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605) often copied these exotic works of art. The anonymous artist of this painting has based his work on an engraving of St. Luke by the German engraver and printmaker Sebald Beham (1500-1550), from his series of the Four Evangelists published in 1541 (see V&A 27765:3).