Saint Jean

El Greco painted this in Toledo in the 1590s, working in Counter-Reformation Spain where the church wanted saints who looked ecstatic and otherworldly, and he obliged with figures stretched unnaturally tall. Saint John the Evangelist holds up a golden chalice and gestures toward it, and if you look closely a tiny winged serpent twists inside the cup. That detail carries a whole legend: John, the story went, was handed a cup of poisoned wine to test his faith, blessed it, and drank without harm as the poison slid out in the shape of a snake. The saint's gaze slips past you to somewhere unseen, his long pale hand hovering. This is one canvas from a full set of apostles El Greco painted for a Spanish church.