GRECO, El
(b. 1541, Candia, d. 1614, Toledo)

Apostle St Thomas

1610-14
Oil on canvas, 97 x 77 cm
Museo de El Greco, Toledo

Apostle St Thomas, called 'Didymus' (twin), popularly known as 'doubting Thomas.' He is generally young and beardless, especially in earlier Renaissance painting. His attributes are a builder's ser-square or ruler, a girdle and a spear or dagger, the instrument of his martyrdom. His inscription, from the Apostles' Creed, is 'Descendit ad inferos tertia die resurrexit a mortuis', a fitting text since it was Christ's resurrection that Thomas doubted.