Saint John the Evangelist

 

Saint John the Evangelist

 

Saint John the Evangelist

Being Saint James the Great brother, John is considered, at the same time, apostle, the youngest of all of them and Jesus’ favourite, and evangelist during his exile on the island of Patmos.

 

In the West’s art, John can easily be distinguished from the rest of the apostles due to his youth and the fact that he didn’t have a beard. His most constant attributes are the book and the eagle. The book alludes to his facet as writer, both of the Gospel and of the Apocalypse, written on the island of Patmos, while the eagle is his symbol of the Tetramorph. He also often held a goblet that contained a serpent or a dragon, in reference to the failed attempt to be poisoned that he suffered during the period of the Emperor Domitian.