The facial type of the present figure, as well as the carving of the draperies, is comparable with work of Michael Pacher, one of the most gifted sculptors of the German renaissance, who was also a talented painter. The original context of the figure is unknown, but he most probably represented the sleeping St. John the Evangelist in an elaborate scene of the Agony in the Garden. It has been suggested that it may have formed part of the dispersed altarpiece from the parish church of S. Lorenzo di Sebato in Pusteria, executed by Pacher in the 1460's. The only extant element from that church, however, is an enthroned Virgin and Child (Rasmo, op. cit., figs. 6,7), and it is not immediately evident, considering the respective sizes and subjects of the two pieces, how they might belong to the same sculptural ensemble. Nevertheless, the present figure is clearly related to other works by Pacher and his workshop, not least among them the supporting angels from the shrine of the Altar of the Virgin in the former parish of Gries, near Bolzano (Rasmo, op. cit., figs. V, VI)