Saint John the Evangelist
Ca. 1500. Oil on panel.On display elsewhere
From the parish church of Erla (Zaragoza), this panel was part of an altarpiece located in one of the chapels on the left side of the building. There is no record of the date on which the altarpiece entered private hands. However, in 1962, it was in a private collection in Switzerland just before the Museo del Prado acquired it. Thanks to a description by Post, the altarpiece is known to have originally consisted of a central panel depicting Saint John the Evangelist (P3096) and two side panels with James the Younger (P3097) and Saint Valentine (P98), crowned by a Crucifixion and a predella depicting the effigy of Christ and four saints, now lost. Stylistically, it has been associated with Bartolomé Bermejo’s circle and with Tomás Giner, two unconvincing attributions. Nevertheless, both the original location of the panels and their style support a possible attribution to an artist who worked in Aragon at the end of the 15th century and whose work was in line with the then-active workshop of Martín Bernat.
Information revised and updated by the Department of Spanish Gothic Painting, May 2022.
