Oil on canvas, 69cm by 59cm.
The painting was originally part of the Orsetti Collection in Venice, from whence it was acquired for Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter (1725-1793).
It was purchased for him by the art dealer James Byres; one of a number of works of art acquired for the earl by Byres.
Andrew and his brother Simon Peter were fishermen, and the first disciples of Jesus.
He had asked them to follow him, saying that he would make them ‘fishers of men’.
Andrew’s martyrdom was, at his request, upon a saltire, or x shaped cross, as he felt himself unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross used for Jesus.
