Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos

c. 1553/1555

Titian

Painter, Venetian, 1488/1490 - 1576

Italian 16th Century

Painter

From far below, we look up at an older man with standing on a cliff edge or rocky ledge with his arms raised as he turns his head to gaze up to a second man and winged, child-like angels surrounded by clouds in the sky above in this square painting. All the people have pale, peachy skin. The man on the ledge, Saint John, half crouches with knees bent so his body is angled to our right, and he turns his head back to our left to look up to the clouds. Both hands are raised with palms facing up. Saint John has a short, curly white beard and hair, and we see the bottom of his chin, nose, and eyes under heavy brows. He wears a light, rose-pink tunic with crimson drapery across his shoulders billowing around his body. Next to him on the rocky ledge is a book with a scarlet-red cover to our left and a brown eagle to our right. The eagle slightly lifts its wings and looks to our left in profile, mouth open and tongue visible. Tufts of grass and plants grow near Saint John’s feet. The aqua-colored sky fills most of the composition behind Saint John, and a bank of silvery gray clouds lit with pale yellow swirls across the top half of the painting. At the center of the clouds, the second man has a long, white beard and white hair, and wears a muted plum-purple robe. He raises his right hand, to our left, palm down with the first two fingers and thumb extended. Six winged, nude young children nestle near this second man or flutter among the clouds.

Media Options

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According to legend, John the Evangelist was exiled by the emperor Domitian to the Greek island of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation. Titian shows the saint as if on the peak of a mountain, reacting in awe and astonishment to the voice of God (“I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet. . . . And I turned to see the voice that spake with me”; Revelation 1:10–12). He then saw a vision of God, who instructed him to record what was to be revealed to him.

In keeping with the painting’s original placement on a ceiling, the steeply foreshortened figure of the Evangelist is seen from a dramatically low viewpoint, approximately corresponding to that of a spectator entering the room where it was installed. Saint John is portrayed at an angle, as if seen from the bottom of a slope, in a way that remains consistent with the high location of the painting, while not impairing the legibility of the figure’s face and pose.

The picture originally formed a central element of the ceiling decoration of the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice. Founded in 1261, it was a confraternity (a voluntary organization of laypeople associated with the church), and one of four original scuole grandi, which played a central role in the religious, social, and cultural life of late medieval and Renaissance Venice. John the Evangelist, depicted here with his attributes of a gospel and an eagle, was the Scuola’s patron saint.

On View

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G14

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 237.6 x 263 cm (93 9/16 x 103 9/16 in.)
    framed: 265.5 x 290.9 x 10.7 cm (104 1/2 x 114 1/2 x 4 3/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1957.14.6

More About this Artwork

From far below, we look up at an older man with standing on a cliff edge or rocky ledge with his arms raised as he turns his head to gaze up to a second man and winged, child-like angels surrounded by clouds in the sky above in this square painting. All the people have pale, peachy skin. The man on the ledge, Saint John, half crouches with knees bent so his body is angled to our right, and he turns his head back to our left to look up to the clouds. Both hands are raised with palms facing up. Saint John has a short, curly white beard and hair, and we see the bottom of his chin, nose, and eyes under heavy brows. He wears a light, rose-pink tunic with crimson drapery across his shoulders billowing around his body. Next to him on the rocky ledge is a book with a scarlet-red cover to our left and a brown eagle to our right. The eagle slightly lifts its wings and looks to our left in profile, mouth open and tongue visible. Tufts of grass and plants grow near Saint John’s feet. The aqua-colored sky fills most of the composition behind Saint John, and a bank of silvery gray clouds lit with pale yellow swirls across the top half of the painting. At the center of the clouds, the second man has a long, white beard and white hair, and wears a muted plum-purple robe. He raises his right hand, to our left, palm down with the first two fingers and thumb extended. Six winged, nude young children nestle near this second man or flutter among the clouds.

Video:  Against Titian

Scholarly Article:  Italian Paintings of the Sixteenth Century: Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos, c. 1553/1555

Scholarly Series:  Italian Paintings of the Sixteenth Century

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Commissioned by the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista, Venice; confiscated 1806 by the state, and transferred to the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice; exchanged 1818 with (Barbini, Turin).[1] Count Bertalazione d'Arache, Turin, by 1885.[2] (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence); sold 1954 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1957 to NGA.
[1] Francesco Zanotto, Pinacoteca della I. R. Accademia Veneta di Belle Arti, Venice, 1834: 2:n.p.; Sandra Moschini Marconi, Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia, Vol. 1: Opere d’arte del secolo XIV e XV, Venice, 1955: xvi; Sandra Moschini Marconi, Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia, Vol. 2: Opere d’arte del secolo XVI, Venice, 1962: 262-263.
[2] Giovanni Battista Cadorin, Note dei luoghi dove si trovano opere di Tiziano, San Fior di Conegliano, 1885: 18.
[3] On 7 June 1954 the Kress Foundation made an offer to Contini Bonacossi for sixteen paintings, including the NGA painting which was listed as St. John the Evangelist (Ceiling) by Titian. In a draft of one of the documents prepared for the Count's signature in connection with the offer this painting is described as one "which came from my personal collection in Florence." The Count accepted the offer on 30 June 1954; the final payment for the purchase was ultimately made in early 1957, after the Count's death in 1955. (See copies of correspondence in NGA curatorial files and The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1867).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1990

  • Tiziano [NGA title: Titian: Prince of Painters], Palazzo Ducale, Venice; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1990-1991, no. 42a, repro.

2018

  • Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia and Palazzo Ducale, Venice; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2018-2019, not in catalogue.

Bibliography

1581

  • Sansovino, Francesco. Venetia città nobilissima et singolare. Venice, 1581: 101.

1648

  • Ridolfi, Carlo. Le maraviglie dell’arte, overo Le vite de gl'illustri pittori veneti, e dello Stato. 2 vols. Venice, 1648: 1:185.

1657

  • Scannelli, Francesco. Il Microcosmo della pittura. Cesena, 1657: 218.

1663

  • Sansovino, Francesco. Venetia città nobilissima et singolare (1581)...Con aggiunta di tutte le cose notabili della stessa città, fatte et occorse dall’anno 1580 fino al presente 1663 da D. Giustiniano Martinioni. Venice, 1663: 284.

1664

  • Boschini, Marco. Le Minere della Pittura. Venice, 1664: 294.

1671

  • Barri, Giacomo. Viaggio pittoresco in cui si notano distintamento tutte le pitture famose de’ più celebri pittori, che si conservano in qualsivoglia città dell’Italia. Venice, 1671: 50.

1705

  • Martinelli, Domenico. Il Ritratto di Venezia. Venice, 1705: 378.

1720

  • Il Gran Teatro delle Pitture e Prospettive di Venezia. 2 vols. Venice, 1720: 1:no. 30.

1733

  • Zanetti, Anton Maria. Descrizione di tutte le pubbliche pitture della città di Venezia. Venice, 1733: 294.

1771

  • Zanetti, Anton Maria. Della pittura veneziana e delle opere pubbliche de' veneziani maestri. Venice, 1771: 124.

1787

  • Dionisi Capitanio, Giovanni. Sommario di memorie, ossia descrizione succinta delli quadri esistenti nella veneranda Scuola grande di S. Giovanni Evangelista ed annessa chiesa con li nomi dei loro pittori. Venice, 1787: 22.

1815

  • Moschini, Gianantonio. Guida per la città di Venezia all'amico delle belle arti. 2 vols. Venice, 1815: 2:508.

1832

  • Zanotto, Francesco. Pinacoteca della I. R. Accademia Veneta di Belle Arti. 2 vols. Venice, 1832-1834: 2:n.p.

1877

  • Crowe, Joseph Archer, and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle. Titian, His Life and Times. 2 vols. London, 1877: 2:416.

1885

  • Cadorin, Giovanni Battista. Note dei Luoghi dove si trovano Opere di Tiziano. San Fior di Conegliano, 1885: 18.

1895

  • Urbani de Gheltof, Giuseppe Marino. Guida storico-artistica alla Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista in Venezia. Venice, 1895: 16-17.

1914

  • Ridolfi, Carlo. Le maraviglie dell’arte, overo Le vite de gl'illustri pittori veneti, e dello Stato (Venice, 1648). Edited by Detlev von Hadeln. 2 vols. Berlin, 1914-1924: 1(1914):205.

1933

  • Suida, Wilhelm. Tizian. Zürich and Leipzig, 1933: 68.

1936

  • Tietze, Hans. Tizian: Leben und Werk. 2 vols. Vienna, 1936: 1:188, 232.

1937

  • Wilde, Johannes. "Review of Tizian: Geschichte seiner Farber by Theodor Hetzer." Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 6 (1937): 52-54.

1956

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 186, no. 73, repro.

  • Walker, John. "The Nation's Newest Old Masters." The National Geographic Magazine 110, no. 5 (November 1956): 631, color repro. 636.

  • Suida, Wilhelm. “Miscellanea Tizianesca, II.” Arte Veneta 10 (1956): 74-75.

1957

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Venetian School. 2 vols. London, 1957: 1:192.

  • Popham, A. E. Correggio’s Drawings. London, 1957: 38-40.

1958

  • Fisher, M. Roy. Titian’s Assistants During the Later Years. Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University (1958). New York, 1977: 62-66.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 189, repro.

1960

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Later Italian Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Six in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 28, color repro.

  • Valcanover, Francesco. Tutta la pittura di Tiziano. 2 vols. Milan, 1960: 1:74-75, pl. 178.

1961

  • Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 121, repro. pl. 117.

1962

  • Moschini Marconi, Sandra. Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia, Vol. 2 : Opere d’arte del secolo XVI. Venice, 1962: 262-263.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 307, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 130.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:176, color repro.

  • Schulz, Jürgen. “Titian’s Ceiling in the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista.” Art Bulletin 48 (1966): 89-95.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 117, repro.

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 183-184, fig. 431.

  • Schulz, Jürgen. Venetian Painted Ceilings of the Renaissance. Berkeley, 1968: 84-85.

  • Wolters, Wolfgang. Plastische Deckendekorationen des Cinquecento in Venedig und im Veneto. Berlin, 1968: 56.

1969

  • Pallucchini, Rodolfo. Tiziano. 2 vols. Florence, 1969: 1:95, 283; 2:pl.300.

  • Panofsky, Erwin. Problems in Titian, Mostly Iconographic. New York, 1969: 35-36.

  • Valcanover, Francesco. L’opera completa di Tiziano. Milan, 1969: 114.

  • Wethey, Harold. The Paintings of Titian. 3 vols. London, 1969-1975: 1(1969):137-138.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 203, 420, 647.

1974

  • Wilde, Johannes. Venetian Art from Bellini to Titian. Oxford, 1974: 169, 172-173.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 348, repro.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:490-492; 2:pl. 347.

1980

  • Pallucchini, Rodolfo. “Tiziano e la problematica del Manierismo.” In Tiziano e Venezia: Convegno internazionale di studi (1976). Vicenza, 1980: 401.

1981

  • Pedrocco, Filippo. “Vicende della Scuola.” In Le scuole di Venezia. Edited by Terisio Pignatti. Milan, 1981: 48-49.

  • Scarpa Sonino, Annalisa. “Sala dell’Albergo Nuovo.” In Le scuole di Venezia. Edited by Terisio Pignatti. Milan, 1981: 66.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 210, no. 258, color repro.

  • Valcanover, Francesco. “Tiziano e la crisi manieristica.” In Cultura e società nel Rinascimento: Tra riforme e manierismi. Edited by Vittore Branca and Carlo Ossola. Florence, 1984: 180.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 397, repro.

  • Nepi Scirè, Giovanna, and Francesco Valcanover. Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia. Milan, 1985: 180.

1987

  • Wollheim, Richard. Painting as an Art. London, 1987: 35.

1990

  • Joannides, Paul. “On Some Borrowings and Non-Borrowings from Central Italian and Antique Art in the Work of Titian c.1510-c.1550.” Paragone 41, no. 487 (1990): 34.

  • Joannides, Paul. “Titian: A Call for Natural Light.” Apollo 132 (1990): 268.

  • Titian, Prince of Painters. Exh. cat. Palazzo Ducale, Venice; National Gallery of Art, Washington. Venice, 1990: 272-279.

1992

  • Shearman, John. Only Connect...Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance. Princeton, 1992: 224-225.

1993

  • Valcanover, Francesco. "Tiziano in Palazzo Ducale a Venezia: Un primo bilancio." Studies in the History of Art 45 (1993):37, 41-45, repro. no. 12.

  • Echols, Robert. “Titian’s Venetian Soffitti: Sources and Transformations.” In Titian 500. Joseph Manca, ed. Studies in the History of Art 45, Symposium Papers 25 (1993): 37, 41-42.

1997

  • Goffen, Rona. Titian's Women. New Haven and London, 1997: no. 155, repro.

1999

  • Valcanover, Francesco. Tiziano: I suoi pennelli sempre partorirono espressioni di vita. Florence, 1999: 50, 117.

2001

  • Pedrocco, Filippo. Titian: The Complete Paintings. New York, 2001: 198.

2004

  • Joannides, Paul. “Titian and Michelangelo/ Michelangelo and Titian.” In The Cambridge Companion to Titian. Edited by Patricia Meilman. Cambridge, 2004: 139-140.

2007

  • Humfrey, Peter. Titian: The Complete Paintings. Ghent and New York, 2007: 277-279.

  • Romani, Vittoria. Tiziano e il tardo rinascimento a Venezia: Jacopo Bassano, Jacopo Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese. Florence, 2007: 48, 140, 204.

2009

  • Ilchman, Frederick, et al. Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Musée du Louvre, Paris. Boston, 2009: 48.

2012

  • Gentili, Augusto. Tiziano. Milan, 2012: 293.

  • Hale, Sheila. Titian: His Life. London, 2012: 417.

2015

  • Dunkerton, Jill. “Titian’s Painting Technique from 1540.” National Gallery Technical Bulletin 36 (2015): 9.

2019

  • Campbell, Stephen J. The Endless Periphery: Toward a Geopolitics of Art in Lorenzo Lotto’s Italy. Chicago and London, 2019: 249, fig. 16.9.

Wikidata ID

Q9396825

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