03 — ARTWORK
St John the Evangelist
- MEDIUM
- Marble, height 210 cm
- TYPE
- Religious
PALETTE
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- FILE
- 630 × 1215 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
As soon as the St Mark had been finished Donatello hastened to complete the St John which, together with the other Evangelists by <a onclick="return OpenOther('/html/n/nanni/banco/st_luke.html')" href="/html/n/nanni/banco/st_luke.html">Nanni di Banco,</a> <a onclick="return OpenOther('/html/l/lamberti/niccolo/st_mark.html')" href="/html/l/lamberti/niccolo/st_mark.html">Niccolò di Piero Lamberti</a> and Bernardo <a onclick="return OpenOther('/html/c/ciuffagn/matthew.html')" href="/html/c/ciuffagn/matthew.html">Ciuffagni,</a> were to be placed on the façadethe front or principal face of a building, especially one elaborately constructed; a blind façade is a façade that is purely decorative and does not relate to the structure of the building. of Santa Maria del Fiore in the tabernaclea small canopied recess or container in which the Eucharist or a holy relic is kept. at the side of the central door. This statue, which was commissioned by the Opera del Duomo but executed much later - the payments go from 1413 to 1415 - almost seems to anticipate the works of Michelangelo. Particularly remarkable are the saint's acute and penetrating expression, and the realistic treatment of his open hand on the book.
This statue represents one of the clearest examples of how perspectiveThe method of representing three-dimensional objects on a flat surface. Perspective gives a picture a sense of depth. The most important form of perspective in the Renaissance was linear perspective (first formulated by the architect Brunelleschi in the early 15th century), in which the real or suggested lines of objects converge on a vanishing point on the horizon, often in the middle of the composition (centralized perspective). The first artist to make a systematic use of linear perspective was Masaccio, and its principles were set out by the architect Alberti in a book published in 1436. The use of linear perspective had a profound effect on the development of Western art and remained unchallenged until the 20th century. is achieved. To offset the apparent distortion that would result from the statue being seen from below, the Evangelist's body has been made disproportionately long for his legs and thighs, which project little from the surface of the statue.
In 1587 the St John, along with the other Evangelists, was removed from the façade and placed inside the CathedralThe principal church of a province or diocese, where the throne of the bishop is placed. For reasons lost to time and tradition, a cathedral always faces west - toward the setting sun. The altar is placed at the east end. The main body, or nave, of the cathedral is usually divided into one main and two side aisles. These lead up to the north and south transepts, or arms of the cross, the shape in which a cathedral is usually formed., whence it was finally moved to its present place in the Museum of the Opera del Duomo.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-rf4eaed94b0c124,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {St John the Evangelist by DONATELLO},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-13},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/donatello-r431353c604b592/st-john-the-evangelist-rf4eaed94b0c124},
urldate = {2026-09-13},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-13. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
