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Saint John the Evangelist

ca. 1480
Not on view
According to the Golden Legend, the idolatrous priest Aristodemus challenged John the
Evangelist:
“I will give you poison to drink. If it does you no harm, it will be clear that
your master is the true God.’...The apostle took the cup, armed himself with the sign of
the cross, drained the drink, and suffered no harm; and all present began to praise God.”
Christ’s favorite disciple is seated here in a Gothic chair, his right hand blessing the cup of poison. The drawing presents a figure type found in paintings of the Upper Rhine. Trimmed to form a rectangle, the originally round sheet was probably used as a design for a stained glass roundel.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Saint John the Evangelist
  • Artist: Upper Rhine (Switzerland)
  • Date: ca. 1480
  • Culture: Upper Rhine (Switzerland)
  • Medium: Pen and blackish brown ink and gray wash over a black chalk underdrawing (still partially visible in the foliate forms of the throne at the upper right), the thin, pale lines of the preliminary ink drawing clearly distinguishable from the thicker, darker ones on top of them, which have dense, felt-like accumulations of tiny strokes in some of the shadows, but are by the same hand; traces of a curved line in black chalk and partly in brush and gray ink in the lower corners and at the upper right.
  • Dimensions: 10 7/16 x 6 5/8 in. (26.5 x 16.8 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.851
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

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The Martyrdom of Saint Paul, Taddeo Zuccaro Italian, Pen and brown and gray ink, brown wash, over black chalk, heightened with white, on buff paper.
The Martyrdom of Saint Paul
Taddeo Zuccaro
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Men Shoveling Chairs (Scupstoel), Vranke van der Stockt Netherlandish, Pen and brown ink over traces of black chalk.
Men Shoveling Chairs (Scupstoel)
Vranke van der Stockt
1444–50
Approach to a Mountain Village with Horsemen on the Road, Fra Bartolomeo (Bartolomeo di Paolo del Fattorino) Italian, Pen and brown ink, traces of black chalk; mounted on an album page
Approach to a Mountain Village with Horsemen on the Road
Fra Bartolomeo (Bartolomeo di Paolo del Fattorino)
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Ecstatic Christ, Hans Baldung (called Hans Baldung Grien) German, Pen and two shades of carbon black ink, traces of black chalk underdrawing
Ecstatic Christ
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Study for the Equestrian Monument to Francesco Sforza, Antonio Pollaiuolo Italian, Pen and brown ink, light and dark brown wash; outlines of the horse and rider pricked for transfer.
Study for the Equestrian Monument to Francesco Sforza
Antonio Pollaiuolo
early to mid 1480s

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