17th Century Italian School. "san Juan Evangelista"

Italian school of the 17th century. "San Juan Evangelista" oil on canvas unframed 35 cm x 24 cm John (Bethsaida, around 10 years old – Ephesus, 98 years or later) was an apostle of Jesus. Christian tradition identifies him with the author of the fourth Gospel, which is why he is also given the nickname of Evangelist. He is considered a myroblite saint [Note 1]. According to the accounts of the canonical Gospels, he was the son of Zebedee and Salome and the brother of the apostle James the Greater. Before following Jesus, he was a disciple of John the Baptist. Tradition attributes to him a special role within the circle of the twelve apostles: included in the small group that also included Peter and James the Greater, it identifies him, although this hypothesis is not currently shared, with the "disciple whom Jesus loved", participating in the main events of the life and ministry of the master and the only apostle present at his death on the cross. According to ancient Christian traditions, John died at an advanced age in Ephesus, the last survivor of the twelve apostles and the only one to have died of natural causes. Christian tradition attributes five New Testament texts to him: the Gospel according to John, the three Letters of John, and the Apocalypse of John; many contemporary critics, including Christian ones, believe, on the contrary, that these texts are probably not attributable to the Apostle John. Another work attributed to him is the Apocryphon of John (not recognized as a divinely inspired text by either the Catholic or Orthodox Church). Because of the speculative depth of his writings, he has traditionally been called the "theologian" par excellence, artistically depicted with the symbol of the eagle, which is attributed to him because, with his vision described in the Apocalypse, he contemplated the True Light of the Word, as described in the Prologue to the fourth Gospel, just as the eagle, it was believed, can gaze directly at the light of the sun.