This marble statue depicting the Evangelist Matthew was sculpted by Bernardo Ciuffagni between 1410 and 1415, as part of the series of the Evangelists destined for the large niches flanking the central portal of the first façade of Florence Cathedral. The statue was originally placed in the first niche to the left.

Initially, the commission for the four Evangelists had been assigned to Niccolò Lamberti, Donatello, and Nanni di Banco, with the condition that the fourth statue would be entrusted to the artist who produced the best work. However, as the delivery of the other sculptures was delayed, in 1410 the commission for the fourth figure was directly entrusted to Bernardo Ciuffagni.

Like the other Evangelists, Ciuffagni’s Saint Matthew is portrayed larger than life, seated on a throne, and sculpted only on the parts visible from the exterior, simulating a fully three-dimensional figure. The Evangelist is imagined as an elderly man: his face and neck are marked by wrinkles, his head balding, and a soft, downy beard covers his chin. He wears a large, classical-style cloak and sits with an upright posture, his gaze turned downward in a mild and contemplative expression. One hand, perhaps originally holding a pen, rests on his knees, while the other marks a page of his Gospel with his finger.

In conceiving the figure, Ciuffagni clearly drew inspiration from Donatello’s Saint John, though without achieving its expressive power and naturalistic rendering. His style remains tied to the elegant linearity characteristic of the young Lorenzo Ghiberti.

The decision to place the four Evangelists at the entrance of the Cathedral carried symbolic meaning: their writings, according to Christian faith, represent access points to revealed Truth. Saint Matthew, in particular, is portrayed at the age he is believed to have been when writing his Gospel, and with the same sweetness in his gaze that echoes the gentleness and accessibility that commentators recognized in his text.

When the medieval façade was dismantled in 1587, the four Evangelists were relocated to the minor chapels of the Cathedral’s central tribune. In 1936, they were finally transferred to the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, where they remain today.