Saint John the Evangelist
The original, as its museum records it
Every line above is reproduced from the holding institution’s own catalogue entry, which is linked. Where their title, date or attribution differs from ours, theirs is the one printed here.
The file this print is made from
Sizes
About this painting
A wing stands in for a corpse. Jan Michielsen died in 1617; his widow, Maria Maes, ordered this epitaph for his grave in Antwerp's cathedral. His name saint takes his place, head thrown back at the tilt of Christ's dead face in the Lamentation beside him.
His finger marks an open book, an eagle climbing the line of his gaze. He gave testimony of these things and wrote them (John 21:24). The brethren had said this disciple should not die.
The grave's inscription: what was Michielsen "lies [but] does not lie in [this] tomb ... like John."
Sources: Lynn F. Jacobs, "Rubens and the Northern Past: The Michielsen Triptych and the Thresholds of Modernity," The Art Bulletin 91:3 (2009), 559-581 · Lynn F. Jacobs, The Art Bulletin 91:3 (2009) · Lynn F. Jacobs, The Art Bulletin 91:3 (2009); KMSKA provenance note · KMSKA (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen), object record for inv. 303 · Lynn F. Jacobs, "Rubens and the Northern Past: The Michielsen Triptych and the Thresholds of Modernity," The Art Bulletin 91:3 (2009), 559-581, quoting the inscription as transcribed by an eighteenth-century archivist · John 21:23, Douay-Rheims (Challoner)
This is that disciple who giveth testimony of these things and hath written these things: and we know that his testimony is true.
John 21:24 · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), from the project’s own corpus at data/bible_drc.js
Printed on demand. Public-domain masterwork, reproduced from a 15,904 px master of the original. The whole image is printed — never cropped to fit the sheet — so every sheet carries an archival margin, and the dimensions and resolution listed above are the ones you receive.