Saint John the Evangelist

Attributed to Workshop of Hubert Gerhard (Dutch, active 1540 - 1620)

Dateca. 1583-1584

MediumBronze with gilding

DimensionsOverall: 8 3/4 inches (22.23 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number59-71/1

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

European Art

Terms

Exhibition History

N/A

Gallery Label

Although of Dutch origin, Gerhard was active in Italy, and the elegant and polished style of these figures is typical of Italian Mannerism. Indeed, the narrow, elongated heads are very similar to that of the Woman Bathing from the workshop of Giambologna. The club held by Saint Jude is the instrument of his martyrdom, and the chalice held by Saint John refers to a poisoned cup from which the priest of Diana at Ephesus made him drink to test the power of his faith. Many bronzes were gilded like these to give a more sacramental effect appropriate to images of saints.

Provenance

With Blumka Gallery, New York, as Italian, by May 1958-1959;

Purchased from Blumka Gallery by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1959.

Published References

Ralph T. Coe, “Small European Sculptures,” Apollo 96, no. 130 (December 1972): 52, (repro.).

Dorothea Diemer, “Hubert Gerhard und Carlo Pallago als Terrakottaplastiker,“ Jahrbuch des Zentralinstituts für Kunstgeschichte 4 (1988): 56, 60, (repro.), as Johannes.

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 31, 156, 412, (repro.), as Saint John the Evangelist.

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 66, 413, (repro.), as Saint John the Evangelist.

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