[146479] London : National Gallery - Saint John the Evangelist

The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2.

Saint John the Evangelist.

Domenichino (1581-1641).

Oil on canvas, late 1620s.

 

Saint John, the author of the fourth gospel, is depicted at a moment of revelation. His pen is arrested and he has turned from the books to raise his eyes toward the true source of his inspiration.

 

The eagle, the bird thought to fly closest to heaven, was the saint's attribute. The heroic, frontal pose was based on the painter's study of ancient sculpture.

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Domenico Zampieri, called Domenichino, was one of the main followers of Annibale Carracci. He had probably arrived in Rome by 1602, when Annibale was working in the Palazzo Farnese. Domenichino was important as a painter of classical landscape, following Annibale. The Gallery contains a series of frescoes on mythological themes that he painted for the Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati.

 

Domenichino was born in Bologna, and trained there under Ludovico Carracci. In Rome he was also influenced by the works of Raphael, as can be seen in his celebrated frescoes on the life of Saint Cecilia in S. Luigi dei Francesi, probably completed by 1614. He returned to Bologna in 1617, but was active again in Rome in the 1620s, before moving to Naples. Here he frescoed the Cappella del Tesoro of the cathedral in a more markedly Baroque style than his earlier work. He died in Naples in 1641.

 

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