LOT 0348

Medieval Painting of Saint John on Patmos

SPAIN, CIRCA 1500 A.D.

23 1/4 in. (4.15 kg, 61.5 cm high).

Oil on board in a gilt-moulded frame with arcade detailing at the top; youthful figure shown sitting on a stone bench, barefoot with right leg extended; head bowed and book supported on the left knee, wearing a green tunic and large brown hooded travelling cloak; set in a landscape with hilltop city in the middle distance; reinforcing straps and suspension to the reverse. [No Reserve]

Ex Vicar Anders Frostenson (1906-2006), Sweden.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13515-262842.

Cf. Mendivil, A., The apprentice Diego de Velásquez: Saint John the Evangelist on the island of Patmos, Alcalá, 2026, fig.12, for the iconography.

It was common in Western art of this period to depict Saint John on Patmos as a youthful figure. By contrast, the Eastern tradition tended to represent him as an old man. In this regard, if we accept that the author of the Apocalypse was Saint John the Evangelist, he would have been approximately ninety years old at the time of its composition. However, painters such as Francisco Pacheco portrayed Saint John the Evangelist on multiple occasions and, notably, tended to depict him as a young man.