St. John the Evangelist on Patmos
1470–1491
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 6 5/16 × 4 1/2 in. (16.1 × 11.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Anne and Carl Stern Gift, 1957
Accession Number
57.629
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold Martin Schongauer's exquisite engraving *St. John Evangelist on Patmos (ca. 1470–1491), a masterful work from the Northern Renaissance that captures the saint's visionary exile on the island of Patmos. Schongauer, a pioneering German engraver active in Colmar and Ulm, depicts St. John amid a dramatic landscape, surrounded by symbolic elements like birds, trees, books, and even a tender Madonna and Child. This composition draws from medieval Christian iconography, evoking the Book of Revelation's apocalyptic visions while blending spiritual introspection with naturalistic details. As on...
About the Artist
Martin Schongauer · 1435–1491
Martin Schongauer, born around 1450–1453 in Colmar, Alsace, emerged from a family of skilled artisans. The third of four or five sons of goldsmith Caspar Schongauer, who had relocated from Augsburg to Colmar around 1440, Martin was immersed in the goldsmith's trade from youth, likely receiving his initial training in his father's workshop—a common path for early engravers. He further honed his ski...