Saint John the Evangelist

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Saint John the Evangelist holds a chalice from which a serpent escapes. He appears on the inside of the left shutter of a small triptych (a painting in three parts), the central panel and other wing of which are also in the National Gallery’s collection. They were painted for the Welsh nobleman and diplomat Sir John Donne, probably in the late 1470s. According to the apocryphal Acts of Saint John, the saint was made to drink poison but survived; the serpent here symbolises the poison. Although this figure of Saint John was presumably taken from a workshop pattern, infrared reflectograms show that the artist drew several versions of the hands and chalice before he was satisfied with them, and they were finally painted in slightly different position to any of the underdrawings.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Saint John the Evangelist

Date

about 1478

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 71 x W 30.5 cm

Accession number

NG6275.3

Acquisition method

Acquired under the terms of the Finance Act from the Duke of Devonshire's Collection, 1957

Work type

Painting

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The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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