Portrait of a gentleman as Saint John the Evangelist, half-length, with a book and a quill pen

This striking portrait probably depicts a man of learning, who has chosen to have himself painted in the character of Saint John the Evangelist. The book from which he lifts his pen, as though caught just finishing a line, bears a modified version of the words said by John the Baptist 'Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ' (John 3:28), here 'that I am not Him', and 'He must increase, but I must decrease' (John 3:30). The alluded-to but here omitted verse, 'He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled', may carry a second, biographical meaning for the sitter, whose age is specified as 27 in 1676.