Saints John the Evangelist and Francis of Assisi

These two saints lived more than a thousand years apart, yet El Greco sets them side by side as though they had always belonged together. On the left stands John the Evangelist, the apostle who knew Christ. On the right, Francis of Assisi, the friar from the 13th century, in his plain brown habit. Around 1600, when this was painted, Francis was everywhere in Counter-Reformation Spain, held up as the model of poverty and penance, and El Greco painted him more often than any other saint. The two figures stand tall and thin against a bank of lead-grey cloud, their faces drawn with feeling. The detail worth finding is in John's hands. He lifts a golden chalice, and a small winged dragon is climbing out of it, from the old story that he was once handed a poisoned cup, blessed it, and watched the poison flee as a serpent.