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Saint John the Younger Apostle
Author, school, workshop
Giovanni Ambrosio Meinardi
Style
Late Baroque
Date
1721
Material and technique
Oil painting on canvas
Size
Height 2.37 x width 1.48 m
Location
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Wroclaw, Poland
Description
In the centre of the painting walks the apostle depicted in full figure. In his right hand he holds a foliate staff in front of him, with his left hand he points vertically upwards to the sky. Beneath his bare feet (his left weight on the body, his right behind) he has a platform laid with stone slabs, in front of which (lower left corner of the painting) 2 books (the upper one with a red cover) lie among the plants. Behind the saint's back on the left - a pedestal with a semicircular side; books rest on it and a sheet of paper hangs. St James is a young man; a dark robed man without facial hair. He is dressed in a long robe of azure blue with a round neckline and sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A red drapery is thrown over the top of it, wrapping around his legs, held up by a sash slung over his right shoulder so that it hangs freely with its end along his left leg, and floats behind his back moved by the wind. The vast expanse of sky above the saint's head is illuminated in yellow.