John the Evangelist

Artist Carlo Dolci (Italian, 1616 - 1686)

Datec. 1650

CultureItalian

MediumOil on copper

ClassificationPaintings

ProvenanceBy 1811, Louis Varisco, Paris; (sold Varisco sale, Boulevard Poissonnière, no. 20, Paris, lot 12); Joséphine Bonaparte (1763 –1814), Empress of the French, Malmaison, near Paris; by inheritance to her daughter, Hortense de Beauharnais (1783–1837), Queen of Holland; by inheritance to her son, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (1808–1873), Paris and Chislehurst, Kent; (sold Bonaparte sale, Christie’s, London, 20 August 1840, lot 141, for £44–2s, to William Buchanan); Robert Stayner Holford (1808–1892), Westonbirt, Gloucestershire; by descent to Sir George Lindsay Holford (1860–1926), Westonbirt, Gloucestershire; (sold Holford sale, Christie’s, London, 15 July 1927, lot 44, for £68–5s); (Arthur U. Newton, New York); purchased in 1930 by John Ringling (1866–1936), Sarasota, Florida; bequest in 1936 to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida.

Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936

Object numberSN137

This small easel painting of St. John the Evangelist on the Island of Patmos illustrates the detailed softness characteristic of Carlo Dolci's style. The saint gazes upward, appealing for inspiration as he pens the Book of Revelation. His ecstatic expression, dewy eyes, and open mouth are typical of Dolci's figures. The eagle at the right of the painting represents St. John's visionary ability - it was believed to be the only creature that could gaze directly into the sun and therefore became an attribute of the saint. Dolci's images often combine vivid palettes with an almost Netherlandish attention to detail.

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On view

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