St. John the Evangelist at Patmos 1645

Curator: Let’s consider Alonzo Cano’s “St. John the Evangelist at Patmos,” completed around 1645. Look at how Cano renders the scene. Editor: The first thing that strikes me is the upward gaze, utterly lost in thought... It feels a bit unsettling, maybe even devotional. He seems caught between earthly labour and heavenly vision, with that strange light emanating from the sky. Curator: Cano masterfully combines the textures, the rough surface of the rock contrasting with the smoother drape of the saint’s robes, all achieved with layered oil paint. Considering Cano's diverse practice—sculpture, architecture, painting—we should consider the transferability of artistic knowledge here. Editor: Exactly! You can see that in the sculptural quality of the figure. And, it makes me think about what’s considered "high" art and something almost closer to craft or manufacture – all those materials… canvas, pigment, brushes, and of course, the labour to make it! Curator: The pink robes, although opulent, point to the economic realities that informed the making of the painting: sources of pigments, trade routes, the patronage system. Baroque portraiture often acted as a mode of social transaction. Editor: And the arrow quill is fantastic, really focusing my mind on the practice of writing. It reminds me how difficult that task must have been then – each word a mark on parchment; each idea literally forged into reality. Did Cano perhaps see parallels between this arduousness and his own? Curator: That kind of manual labor ties into craft as a philosophical idea and a system of making objects of desire that are also objects embedded in processes. St. John here isn't just divinely inspired. Editor: I get such a feeling for Cano, and wonder, beyond process, what moved him, in this singular devotional depiction, of the Gospel's author! Curator: So we find our perspectives subtly shifting and being shaped by material history even today. Editor: Always! It helps me bring my experience closer to Cano's world!