Saint John the Evangelist

The small snake rising out of John's cup comes from a legend widely told in the 15th century. John was challenged to drink poisoned wine, he blessed the cup, the poison crept out of it in the form of a serpent, and he drank unharmed. Here he lifts his fingers over the chalice at that moment. Memling puts him in a quiet room with a tiled floor and a tall window, and high in its stained glass you can find a coat of arms, the arms of Sir John Donne, the courtier who paid for the triptych and whose name saint this is. Through the opening behind the Evangelist, a peacock perches on a crumbling courtyard wall. The bird stood for immortality, since its flesh was believed never to decay.