Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History


    • The Vision of Saint John, 1608–14
    El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (Greek, 1541–1614)
    Oil on canvas (top truncated); 87 1/2 x 76 in. (222.3 x 193 cm); with added strips 88 1/2 x 78 1/2 in. (224.8 x 199.4 cm)
    Rogers Fund, 1956 (56.48)

    The painting depicts a passage in Revelation (6:9–11) describing the opening of the Fifth Seal and the distribution of white robes to "those who had been slain for the work of God and for the witness they had borne." It is cut down from a larger altarpiece painted between 1608 and 1614 for the church of the hospital of Saint John the Baptist in Toledo. The missing upper part may have shown the Sacrificial Lamb opening the Fifth Seal. The broad, open brushwork is characteristic of El Greco's late style. The picture is unfinished and much damaged and abraded.

    This work of art also appears on Connections: Spain

    Related


    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • Hearn, Maxwell, and Wen Fong. "The Arts of Ancient China." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 32, no. 2 (1974)
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Rousseau, Theodore. Theodore Rousseau: Selections from His Writings
  • Baetjer, Katharine. "El Greco." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 39, no. 1 (Summer, 1981).
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Le Corbeiller, Clare. "German Porcelain of the Eighteenth Century." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 47, no. 4 (Spring, 1990).
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Cassidy-Geiger, Maureen. "Graphic Sources for Meissen Porcelain: Origin of the Print Collection in the Meissen Archives." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 31 (1996).
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Cassidy-Geiger, Maureen. "The Porcelain Decoration of Ignaz Bottengruber." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 33 (1998).
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Rousseau, Theodore. "El Greco's Vision of Saint John." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 17, no. 10 (June, 1959)
    JSTOR | PDF
    • On view: Gallery 611
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    • The Vision of Saint John, 1608–14
    El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (Greek, 1541–1614)
    Oil on canvas (top truncated); 87 1/2 x 76 in. (222.3 x 193 cm); with added strips 88 1/2 x 78 1/2 in. (224.8 x 199.4 cm)
    Rogers Fund, 1956 (56.48)

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