User:Mrmurillonyc/sandbox

Vision of Saint John

Artist El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (Greek, Iráklion (Candia) 1540/41–1614 Toledo)

Date ca. 1608–14

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions 87 1/2 x 76in. (222.3 x 193cm); with added strips 88 1/2 x 78 1/2 in. (224.8 x 199.4 cm) [top truncated]

Classification Paintings

Credit Line Rogers Fund, 1956

Accession Number 56.48 On view at The Metropolitian Museum of Art; Fifth Avenue in Gallery 611

In 1608 El Greco was commissioned to do three altarpieces for the church of the Hospital of Saint John the Baptist in Teledo Spain. It is also referred to as the Taver Hospital after its co-founder Cardinal-Archbishop Juan de Tavera. One of the works of the three large fragmented pieces is a painting called Vision of Saint John. A representation of a story in the Bible book of Revelations, chapter 6 verses nine through eleven. It portrays the distribution of white robes for those slain in the name of the lord. The painting which is on view currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is not the completed work of art it was originally. The art work was later cut down from its original placement at the church. It was badly damaged and during the cutting a large piece of the upper work was lost. It is missing an upper part of the painting. It is said to have been a portrait of Jesus “The Sacrificial Lamb” opening the Fifth Seal at the end of times according to the book of revelations. The painting was for one of the side altars to the right of the high altar. There was to accompany the work the other lateral altarpiece, for the left-hand altar. That work shows the Annunciation. The Baptism, meant for the high altar, is installed on a side altar in the church currently. Vision of Saint John was El Greco’s last large-scale work he did. He did not live to finish the piece. His son Jorge Manuel who was also an artist wound up completing the artwork. The hospital where the painting was displayed was run by Pedro Salazar de Mendoza, an admirer of El Greco’s work. He thought that the devotional painting would be of immense importance to patients healing and recovering in the hospital. A devotional piece promoting salvation would be just the inspiration patients and families would need in their times of need. Many people died in the hospital and so promoting salvation was something that served as a monument to those spiritually in need as well as enlightened. For the 1621 inventory, which includes works inherited by Jorge Manuel from his father, see Javier Docamp and José Riello, La Biblioteca del Greco, exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2014, p. 233: "183. Dos quadros bosquejados para los colaterales del ospital grandes" and, "184. El bautismo prinzipal del ospital"). What cannot be doubted is that, when taken together, the three scenes offered a synopsis of God's plan of salvation by showing the incarnation of Christ, the manifestation of his divine mission, and a vision of the elect at the end of time.

besides the fact the painting was not fully completed by El Greco the painting and what it represents remains enormously powerful. Even Picasso reimagined this work with his own version the Les Demoiselles d'Avignon 1907.

Didactics

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) Greek, Candia [Iraklion] 1540/41-1614

The Vision of Saint John 1608-14 Oil on canvas (top truncated)

The painting is a fragment from a large altarpiece commissioned for the church of the hospital of Saint John the Babtist in Toledo. It depicts a passage in the Bible, Revolation (6:9-11) describing the opening of the Fifth Seal at the end of time, and the distribution of white robes to “those who had been slain for the work of God and for the witness they had bourne.” The missing upper part may have shown the Sacrificial Lamb opening the Fifth Seal. The canvas was an iconic work for the twenyith-century artists and Picasso, who knew it in Paris, used it as his inspiration for Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Rogers Fund, 1956 56.48

Notes

When the painting was restored by Julián Jiménez of the Prado in 1880 the upper part of the canvas was cut off; this missing upper portion has never been identified and was probably destroyed.

Exhibition History 1

Madrid. Museo Nacional de Pintura y Escultura. "Exposición de las obras de Domenico Theotocopuli, llamado El Greco," 1902, no. 21 (as "Amor Divino y Amor Profano," lent by Sr. D. Raphael Vázquez de la Plaza, Córdoba).

London. New Burlington Galleries. 1938 [an exhibition of works by Zuloaga to which the artist lent this picture from his collection]

Amsterdam. Rijksmuseum. "De triomf van het maniërisme," 1955

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 15, 1970–February 15, 1971

Athens. National Pinakothiki, Alexander Soutzos Museum. "Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Memories and Revivals of the Classical Spirit," September 24–December 31, 1979

Bordeaux. Galerie des Beaux-Arts. "Profil du Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York: de Ramsès à Picasso," May 15–September 1, 1981

Paris. Musée Picasso. "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," January 26–April 18, 1988

Barcelona. Museu Picasso. "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," May 10–July 14, 1988

Athens. National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. "From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 13, 1992–April 11, 1993

Athens. National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. "El Greco: Identity and Transformation: Crete, Italy, Spain," October 18, 1999–January 17, 2000

Paris. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais. "Visions du Futur: Une histoire des peurs et des espoirs de l'humanité," October 3, 2000–January 1, 2001

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "El Greco," October 7, 2003–January 11, 2004

London. National Gallery. "El Greco," February 11–May 23, 2004

New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso: Time, Truth, and History," November 17, 2006–March 28, 2007

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "El Greco to Velázquez: Art During the Reign of Philip III," April 20–July 27, 2008

Durham, N.C. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. "El Greco to Velázquez: Art During the Reign of Philip III," August 21–November 9, 2008

London. Dulwich Picture Gallery. "Masterpiece a Month: Presiding Genius," April 1–30, 2011

Düsseldorf. Museum Kunstpalast. "El Greco and Modernism," April 28–August 12, 2012, (as "The Opening of the Fifth Seal [The Vision of Saint John]).

Madrid. Museo Nacional del Prado. "El Greco y la pintura moderna," June 24–October 5, 2014

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "El Greco in New York," November 4, 2014–February 1, 2015

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible," March 18–September 4, 2016

1. the Metropolitain Museum of Art Website: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436576