Saint John the Evangelist

The Giustiniani brothers, the banker Marchese Vincenzo and Cardinal Benedetto, were among the most important private collectors in 17th-century Rome, and their pictures included a whole group by Caravaggio. One of them ordered this Saint John from Domenichino. The evangelist has stopped writing and lifted his head toward a light above, quill held up, lips parted, and Domenichino made his eyes a little larger than life to carry that sense of wonder. Two angels hold up heavy books, and the eagle, John's traditional sign, serves as a footrest. The mountains at the right may stand for Patmos, the Greek island where John was said to have written the Book of Revelation. Of the drawings for it, one squared up for transfer to the canvas survives in the Royal Collection. The painting belongs to a private collection and is on loan to the National Gallery.