Giorgio Vasari
St. Luke Painting the Virgin and Child
Circa 1525
Fresco
In Santissima Annunziata, Florence, Italy
St. Luke is identified by the ox on the right but is presented as a contemporary artist. He wears eyeglasses and uses paints that he prepares himself in the background scene. His box of brushes is at the foot of the easel; to its left is the small vase that Molanus says refers to his profession as a physician.
Behind the ox are the tails of two or more peacocks, which are usually taken to be symbols of immortality (Sill, 24).
Despite the eyeglasses the saint does not see, or at least has not chosen to paint, the putti and cloud that seem to be borrowed from images of the Assumption.
Read more about images of St. Luke.
Source: this page at Wikimedia Commons.
