Saint John the Evangelist

License image

Enea Salmeggia , Italian, c.1565/70-1626

Title

Datec.1605

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions

173 x 76 cm

Credit LinePurchased, 1863

Object numberNGI.78

DescriptionSaint John the Evangelist here holds the martyr’s palm handed to him by the Virgin on her deathbed as recognition of his role as her protector after Christ’s death. In both this work and its pendant, Saint Bartholomew (NGI.80), Salmeggia has posed the figures elegantly within an architectural framework. The compositions perhaps owes a debt to Sebastiano del Piombo (c.1485-1547), who painted the saint under an arch on the organ shutters of San Bartolomeo, Venice (now Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice) almost a century previous, and was once thought to be the author of Salmeggia’s completed work.

Salmeggia received his main training with Camillo Procaccini in Milan, where he went on to paint a number of altarpieces. He was initially strongly influenced by Raphael and his pupil, Giulio Romano, and always striving for clarity of composition following the dictates of the Counter-Reformation. He reveals here the influence of Lorenzo Lotto’s more expressive interpretation of holy figures, and the soft shadows found in Leonardo da Vinci’s Milanese pupil, Bernardino Luini.
ProvenancePossibly Tynan Abbey, Armagh; purchased, Christie's, Durham, Archdeacon Thorpe sale, 1863Label TextThis painting depicts the apostle Saint John the Evangelist as a beardless and youthful man holding a palm. According to legend, Saint John received this palm when the Virgin Mary died. A companion painting depicts Saint Bartholomew (NGI.80). These works originally served as the wings of a triptych altarpiece. Salmeggia was born in the northern province of Bergamo, and spent his entire career working in northern Italy. His children Francesco and Chiara were assistants in his workshop towards the end of his life.