Title

Saint John the Evangelist

Juni, Juan de [attributed to] (Joigny, ca. 1507 - Valladolid, 1577)

Generic classification

Object

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Dimensions

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Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

This sculpture was likely part of an altarpiece that no longer exists. Only two pieces from it have been identified: St. John the Evangelist and St. Mark. However, it seems reasonable to assume that, alongside these two sculptures, Saint Luke and Saint Matthew would also have been present, perhaps flanking a central scene such as a Crucifixion.

Furthermore, there is a significant lack of documentation regarding these carvings, as their origin is unknown. They appeared on the German art market around 1980–1990 and were purchased at that time by a private collector from the Lower Saxony region (Germany). According to the heirs of the collection, their father had acquired most of the works in Germany during the last decades of the 20th century. It was they who, following their father’s death, decided to contact the auction house Auktionshaus Stahl (Hamburg, Germany) to sell the pieces. Both were auctioned as lot number 317 and were cataloged as“Alpine.” St. Mark fetched €1,900, while St. John the Evangelistfetched €2,100.

Art dealers Tamara Sánchez van Dyck and the Irish firm James Barry Fine Art jointly acquired the sculptures in 2017. From that point on, the authorship of the sculptures changed, and they were attributed to Juan de Juni. This Burgundian sculptor had settled in Spain around 1533 and carried out work in León, Salamanca, and Valladolid, the latter being the city where he established his workshop (Martín González, 1974; Fernández del Hoyo, 2012). If the attribution is correct, we are looking at two sculptures carved around 1560–1570 and, therefore, likely created in Valladolid (Arias, López, and Díez, 2020). However, this attribution raises some doubts. The figure of St. John the Evangelist has details—especially on the face—that resemble other carvings by Juan de Juni, such as those on the altarpiece of St. John the Baptist in the Villafañe Chapel ( Monastery of San Benito el Real, Valladolid). However, the face of Saint Mark and the attributes of both pieces—the lion and the eagle—differ from the Burgundian artist’s style. Could both pieces have been works from the workshop? Could Juni have been involved in the creation of one of them at some point?

Throughout 2020, Yale University (New Haven, United States) conducted an investigation to determine the origin of the pieces, since their unknown past might have been due, perhaps, to possible looting during the Nazi era. The documentary trail for the carvings is practically nonexistent; furthermore, it must be taken into account that this type of sculpture circulated actively in the Central European art market between 1933 and 1945, a period marked by Nazi looting. With no further evidence available to reconstruct their history, the Yale University Art Gallery decided to purchase both pieces and include them in its online catalog on“gaps in provenance documentation from the Nazi era,” openly acknowledging that it cannot guarantee the complete history of these works prior to their reappearance on the market.

We are grateful for the information provided by Cassidy Hurley, Museum Assistant at the Yale University Art Gallery.

Description

The sculpture depicts Saint John the Evangelist in a pronounced contrapposto pose; his hips and torso are slightly twisted, lending the figure a sense of dynamism and naturalness. The saint’s beardless face, along with his delicate features and long, curly, golden hair falling over his shoulders, depict a young man. He holds an open book in his hands, alluding to his Gospel. His attribute is an eagle at his feet with partially folded wings and an open beak. Finally, the polychromy is reminiscent of 16th-century Castilian sculpture; gold and the stucco technique predominate, allowing for richly detailed decorative motifs—in this case, with greater chromatic contrast than in the carving of Saint Mark. Similarly, the flesh tones of the face and hands convey a sense of naturalism in the skin.

Locations

• Third quarter of the XVI^th c.

  region

  Possible origin from Castile and Leon, Castilla y León (Spain)

• ca. 1980 - 2017

  private collection

  Private collection, Lower Saxony, Baja Sajonia (Germany) *

• ca. 2017 - 2017

  auction house

  Auktionshaus Stahl, Hamburgo (Germany)

• 2017 - 2021

  dealer/antiquarian

  Tamara Sánchez van Dyck, Madrid (Spain) *

• 2017 - 2021

  dealer/antiquarian

  James Barry Fine Art Limited, Dublín (Ireland) *

• ca. 2021 - present

  museum

  Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven (United States)