Oil on canvas, cleaned and relined. Restoration carried out in the 60s/70s using cleaning and preservation methods, with applied varnishes and retouches that have diminished the true splendor of the colors and the representative drawing of the work. A cleaning restoration would make its interpretation easier and more pleasant, and would increase its commercial value. Canvas dimensions 60x50 cm with a beautiful gilded frame 80x70 cm. The painting depicts Saint Mark the Evangelist, identifiable by the muzzle of the lion (his iconographic attribute) emerging from the darkness behind him. The painting bears characteristics of the artist Antonio Carneo, likely a workshop piece; executed by apprentices with the intervention of the master in some parts, particularly in the expression of the face. The canvas exhibits typical characteristics of the Friulian painter; Carneo was renowned for his extraordinary skill in painting the faces of old men, philosophers, or saints, characterized by pronounced wrinkles, broad, bald foreheads, and long, full beards rendered with a "fat" and material brushstroke. The expressiveness of the gaze, wide, intense, and almost theatrical eyes, turned towards the viewer or a lateral light source, are a true stylistic signature of his male figures. The dramatic chiaroscuro, the use of contrasts, and the dark background from which both the saint and the anthropomorphic lion emerge are characteristic of his work. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES Antonio Carneo learned painting techniques from his father and, as a self-taught artist, deepened his study of 16th-century Venetian masters. He worked in the Veneto and Friuli, especially in Udine, where he created paintings for the nobility that recall the influence of the Venetian "tenebrosi" (dark painters) and the lessons of masters like Bernardo Strozzi and Giovan Battista Langetti. He was appreciated for the natural chromaticism of his paintings, the mix of realistic figurative models, and his swirling brushwork and imaginative flair.