The Four Evangelists, within a Border of Flowers, Birds, and Insects

Giorgio Giulio Clovio · 1572

Medium

Tempera and gold paint on vellum, in paper montage with pen and brown ink and touches of watercolor

Original size

Overall: 36.7 × 25 cm (14 1/2 × 9 7/8 in.); Individual miniatures; Matthew: 7.8 × 7.5 cm (3 1/8 × 3 in.); Mark: 7.7 × 7.5 cm (3 1/16 × 3 in.); Luke: 7.8 × 7.8 cm (3 1/8 × 3 1/8 in.); John: 7.8 × 7.7 cm (3 1/8 × 3 1/16 in.); Border: 34.3 × 24.5 cm (13 9/16 × 9 11/16 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Mannerism

Few works in Renaissance illumination balance the sacred and the natural with such precision and tenderness as this late masterpiece by Giorgio Giulio Clovio. Born in Croatia and trained across the Italian peninsula, Clovio became the pre-eminent illuminator of the sixteenth century — a figure so revered that Giorgio Vasari called him "the Michelangelo of miniature painting." Working in tempera and gold on vellum, Clovio operated at a scale that demanded almost supernatural control, achieving tonal gradations and figurative detail that rivalled panel painters working many times larger. In this 1572 composition, the four Gospel writers occupy a luminous central field while the surrounding border teems with botanically precise flowers, birds caught mid-perch, and insects rendered with the attentiveness of a naturalist. El Greco, who shared lodgings with Clovio in Rome during the 1570s, painted his portrait — a rare honour that speaks to the esteem in which the older master was held across artistic circles. Now housed at the Art Institute of Chicago, the original's intimacy rewards close inspection in ways a museum setting rarely allows. This hand-painted oil reproduction translates Clovio's layered luminosity and border-work onto canvas, giving the composition the presence it deserves at a scale you can actually live with.