“Many have seen the original by Domenichino…”. On the iconographic type of St John the Evangelist in Russian 19th-century applied art

Abstract

The article considers the rare iconographic type of St John the Evangelist depicted on the 1858 silver-chased Gospel mount from the collection of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum. Unlike other Evangelists, St John is represented as a young man. The author traces the origins of this image, rarely used in Russian Orthodox religious art, back to the original painting by Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri) “St John the Evangelist” (1625–1628), which became widely known in 19th-century Russia through its various copies in painting, engraving and applied art.