Skip to main content

Master of the Female Half-Lengths, 'Saint John on Patmos', about 1540

About the work

Saint John the Evangelist is seated on the island of Patmos writing the Book of Revelation. He seems to have reached the twelfth of his 22 chapters, given the appearance in heaven of the ‘woman clothed with the sun’, and the red dragon with seven heads. They are floating in the sky at the top right.

John holds a quill pen, while the eagle that is his emblem grasps his inkwell and pen-case in its beak. On the right, a small monster crouching on the shore of the island waves a stick at the eagle: in the Renaissance, pictures of the saint often included a devil trying to disturb his writing.

The artist may have known Hans Memling’s Saint John on Patmos – the figure of the saint is a free, reversed version of Memling’s, and the woman and the dragon are much as Memling imagined them. The tiny island, the pen-case and the inkwell are reminiscent of manuscript painting.

Key facts

Full title
Saint John on Patmos
Artist
Master of the Female Half-Lengths
Artist dates
active second quarter of the 16th century
Date made
about 1540
Medium and support
oil on wood
Dimensions
37.2 × 23.3 cm
Acquisition credit
Presented by Queen Victoria at the Prince Consort's wish, 1863
Inventory number
NG717
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection
Previous owners
Frame
19th-century English Frame

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

More works by Master of the Female Half-Lengths

A Female Head
A Female Head
Master of the Female Half-Lengths
A young woman with brown hair and plucked eyebrows gazes modestly downward. Her hairstyle is Italianate: her plaits are wound around the top of her head and are entwined with a semi-transparent scarf that falls across her right shoulder. She wears a semi-transparent ruched chemise and a blue over...
Not on display
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt
Master of the Female Half-Lengths
The holy family rest as they flee from Bethlehem to Egypt, trying to escape King Herod’s order that all boys under two be killed. Mary sits on a low wall that encloses a courtyard and a fountain. She has opened her dress and chemise to reveal her right breast, evidently to feed her son. Saint Jos...
Not on display
Saint Christopher carrying the Infant Christ
Saint Christopher carrying the Infant Christ
Workshop of the Master of the Female Half-Lengths
According to legend, Saint Christopher was a giant, who was given the task of helping travellers across a river after he converted to Christianity. One day a child asked to be carried across, but Saint Christopher found him so heavy that he was bowed down with the weight. The child revealed that...
Not on display