03 — ARTWORK
St John the Evangelist in Patmos
- MEDIUM
- Oil on copper, 38 x 49 cm
- TYPE
- Religious
PALETTE
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THIS REPRODUCTION
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CURRENT LOCATION · Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti)
- FILE
- 1300 × 1126 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
This small copper piece is most probably a preparatory example for two other versions of this subject on large canvases, although traces of these have been lost. The scene illustrates the episode narrated in the book of Apocalypsethe Revelation of St John, the last book of the New Testament. The wrath of God descending upon the earth is depicted in three visions; in the form of terrible natural catastrophes, in the battle between the forces and good and evil, and in the union of a new Heaven and new Earth in the Heavenly Jerusalem. The announcement of the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the world was intended to console the persecuted Christians and also prepare them for the horrors connected with the event. (XII, 1-6): the Evangelist, exiled on the Greek island of Patmos, receives a vision of the woman of the Apocalypse, elevated against a crescent moon and threatened by a terrible seven-headed dragon.
The copper creates a whole with the spectacular 17th-century gilded wooden frame, which shows genuine virtuosity in the intertwined dragons' heads that refer to the subject of the painting.
OTHER WORKS BY CARLO DOLCI
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r2bdc43a0a5add2,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {St John the Evangelist in Patmos by DOLCI, Carlo},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-13},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dolci-carlo-r5eb81e432e3f2b/st-john-the-evangelist-in-patmos-r2bdc43a0a5add2},
urldate = {2026-09-13},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-13. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.