Saint John the Evangelist and the poisoned chalice

The present work can be compared to a Saint John the Evangelist by Alonso Cano, which was one compartment of a large retable in the convent of Santa Paula in Seville. Dispersed in 1810, the retable was originally composed of eight panels, two of which - the Saint John the Evangelist and the Saint James the Greater - were acquired by the Musée du Louvre in 1997 (see J. Baticle, 'Deux tableaux d'Alonso Cano au musée du Louvre. Essai de reconstitution d'un retable', Revue du Louvre, February 1997, pp. 123-134). The author of the present work must surely have been aware of Cano's painting--the Saint is dressed identically and seated in the same posture before a plain background in both paintings. The only significant difference lies in the position of the head - in the Louvre work Saint John looks down at the chalice.

Saint John the Evangelist was traditionally associated with John who was exiled by Domitian to Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation. Following Domitian's death he went to Ephesus. The priest of the Temple of Diana there gave him a poisoned cup to drink as a test of his faith. However, when he made the sign of the cross, the poison was miraculously transformed into a dragon and he was able to drink unharmed.