Apostle St Thomas
by GRECO, El, Oil on canvas, 97 x 77 cm
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.