The Vision of Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos

Description The vision of Christ's youngest disciple on the Greek island of Patmos is described in the Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation, in the New Testament. With his pen, book, and his attribute the eagle, the inspired saint turns his head heavenward to see the woman clad with the sun and standing on the moon confronted by the seven-headed serpent (Revelation 12:1-4). This passage was commonly interpreted as referring to the Virgin Mary as "Ecclesia" (the Church) and the devil. The canvas is a "modello" (preparatory compositional study) for a fresco painted on the vaulted ceiling of the refectory of the church of Santa Dorotea in Rome. The church had been rebuilt after 1738, when it was given to the Conventual Franciscan Friars. For more information on this painting, please see Federico Zeri's 1976 catalogue no. 403, pp. 513-514.

Provenance Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1881 catalogue: no. 205; 1897 catalogue: no. 163, as Domenichino]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902