Viceregal School. Lima. Peru. 16th century.

Viceregal School. Lima. Peru. 16th century. 'SaintJohn on Patmos' Oil on canvas. Relined. 272 x 190 cm. Very early large-format painting, significant for understanding the evolution from Mannerist art to early naturalism, highlighting the schematic, Byzantine-influenced folds of Saint John's clothing, or the Florentine Renaissance-influenced angels' wings. There is a cartouche showing Juan Martín de Escobar as the donor, Procuratorof the Convent of Our Lady of Mercy in Lima. We can read 'Dio este liencoel ermano JvanMartin Descovarpor sv devocion' (Brother Juan Martín de Escobar donated this canvas for his worship). The existence of Juan Martín de Escobar is attested to by his commercial activities, which are recorded in notebook 210 of file VII, in Volume I - Delivery I of the 'Revista del Archivo Nacional del Perú' (Magazine of the National Archive of Peru), published in Lima in 1920. According to this notebook, the deed of sale was granted on 14 September 1629. 'A great sign appeared in heaven,' recounts Saint John in the book of Revelation in the Bible. It is the image of a 'woman clothed bythe sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.' The figure of the Apocalyptic Virgin is the symbol of the Church, inheritor of all the glory of Israel, and conceived as the mother of the Son of God. She appears to the evangelist and seer clothed in the sun, with the moon at her feet and a crown of twelve stars encircling her head, an image that would later be adopted to depict the Immaculate Conception of Mary by Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. A dragon - symbolising the devil - battles against the woman - symbolising the Church - whom God guards and defends by giving her the wings of a great eagle to fly to the desert and preserve her from the devil. Hence, the figure of the eagle is often present alongside Saint John the Evangelist. An anachronistic vision of the saint is often seen in art depicting the Vision on Patmos, as it portrays him as a young man who appears to have only aged a decade since his adolescence during the Passion of Jesus. In reality, Saint John would already have been very old, as his death is estimated to have occurred around the year 104, at an advanced age.