List of apostolados

'apostolate'), or apostles series,[1] is a series of individual portrait paintings of the apostles of Jesus Christ, sometimes including other figures, such as Jesus, Luke, Mary, and/or Paul.

[2][3][4][5] The first potential example of an apostolado stems from a pair of portraits of the apostles James the Elder and Philip by Albrecht Dürer in 1516, which he may have intended as a full series of twelve.

[6][7] In Spain, apostolados are a prevalent genre of art of the apostles,[8] being popularized by Greco-Spanish painter El Greco[9] and leading to other renowned artists of the genre such as Francisco de Zurbarán,[10] Peter Paul Rubens,[11] and Anthony van Dyck.

[12] Images of saints, and therefore the apostles, became popular in Catholic Europe during the Renaissance as a result of the Counter-Reformation, which in turn derived from a heavy emphasis of the Catholic doctrine of intercession of saints and opposition to Protestant iconoclasm.

[13][14] Although the concept of the apostles in the context of Christianity generally refers to the first twelve apostles of Jesus Christ as enumerated in the Gospels[15][16] (Judas Iscariot being replaced by Matthias due to his treachery),[17] some apostolados contain portraits of other important figures in Christianity, such as Jesus, Paul, Mary, and/or Luke.