Image:Detail from German, South, 'Saint John on Patmos', about 1460-70
The eagle is one of the attributes of Saint John the Evangelist
The eaglerepresents one of the four creatures (symbolic of the Evangelists) that are described as surrounding God’s throne in the Bible in Revelation 4:7.
German, South, Saint John on Patmos, about 1460-70
Saint John the Evangelist is also often shown holding a chalice containing a serpent, alluding to the cup of sorrow foretold by Jesus (Matthew 26:39).
Explore more images of Saint John the Evangelist in the collection
Saint John the Evangelist is seated on the island of Patmos writing the Book of Revelation. He seems to have reached the twelfth of his 22 chapters, given the appearance in heaven of the ‘woman clothed with the sun’, and the red dragon with seven heads. They are floating in the sky at the top rig...
Not on display
On the Greek island of Patmos, Saint John the Evangelist had a vision of the Woman of the Apocalypse, which he recorded in the New Testament Book of Revelation. Here he sits with an oversized book in his lap, his quill pen poised, and looks towards the tiny illuminated female figure hovering in t...
Not on display
Saint John the Baptist, identified by his camel hair shirt, makes direct eye contact with the viewer. He clutches a scroll, its Latin inscription containing the words he spoke to Christ after baptising him: ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1: 29).He is joined...
Not on display
Saint Catherine of Alexandria stands among the fragments of the spiked wheel on which she was tortured, which miraculously shattered during her ordeal. She holds a sword, the weapon that eventually killed her. To her left is Saint John the Evangelist, whose symbol of the eagle perches on a rock a...
