This icon depicts the Apostle Saint Matthew the Evangelist. Although there is no identifying inscription, Matthew is portrayed as a middle-aged man with brown hair in the Orthodox tradition. He is wearing a blue chiton covered with a brown himation Matthew is depicted as a scholar, sitting on a stool, and resting his feet on a footstool. In his right hand he holds a quill sitting before a small desk with parchment and ink. This manner of depicting the Evangelists is common and seen throughout the Orthodox world. The iconography is derived from classical depictions of scholars with whom the apostles are often associated, for example John is often linked to Socrates.

Matthew sits in an architectural setting, underneath a red cloth that is hung between the two buildings on the left and right of the icon.
The iconographies of the four evangelists sitting alone in cells and working on their gospels by a desk with a lectern developed in the Byzantine illuminated manuscript tradition; where the images would accompany the texts of the Gospels.

The main elements of the iconographies are - for the most part - retained until the 17th century, making our icon a late example of this iconography. The large number of doors and windows in the architectural elements create a labyrinthine effect and disorientates us by overlapping interior and exterior spaces. The openings represent the entrance to another space beyond the physical world. The architectural elements, with a veil hanging between them, symbolise what the Philokalia calls ‘the house of spiritual architecture’.