St. John the Evangelist on the Isle of Patmos
Medium
engraving
Dimensions
image: 16 × 11.3 cm · sheet: 16 × 11.3 cm
Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Dudley P. Allen Fund
Accession Number
1952.36
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
male
About this artwork
Christian tradition says that Saint John the evangelist was banished by the Roman Emperor Domitian to the Greek island of Patmos at the end of his life. There, the visionary wrote the Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation. Martin Schongauer's engraving describes in detail one of the visions that the saint experienced. Seated at the seashore, the Virgin Mary miraculously appeared to him, clothed with sun, standing on a crescent moon, and crowned by twelve stars. here, John turns the pages of his book...