Lot Essay
A stylistic comparison may be made with the predella panel depicting the 'Stoning of St. Stephen' by Benvenuto di Giovanni (see B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Central Italian and North Italian Schools, 1968, vol. fig. 848).
The subject is taken from Jacobus da Voragine's Golden Legend, in which it is recorded that Saint John was thrown into a vat of oil during the persecution of the Christians under the Emperor Domitian. Miraculously he emerged unscathed and even rejuvenated. The Emperor Domitian is seen urging on two soldiers in their attempts to fan the flames under the vat while his Senators and other figures look on. The site of the failed martyrdom is marked by the chapel of San Giovanni in Olio, near the Latin Gate of Rome. The latter may be represented by the structure on the right of the present composition
The subject is taken from Jacobus da Voragine's Golden Legend, in which it is recorded that Saint John was thrown into a vat of oil during the persecution of the Christians under the Emperor Domitian. Miraculously he emerged unscathed and even rejuvenated. The Emperor Domitian is seen urging on two soldiers in their attempts to fan the flames under the vat while his Senators and other figures look on. The site of the failed martyrdom is marked by the chapel of San Giovanni in Olio, near the Latin Gate of Rome. The latter may be represented by the structure on the right of the present composition