St. John the Evangelist and the Scribe Prokhorus

Name/Title

St. John the Evangelist and the Scribe Prokhorus

Entry/Object ID

2005.02.073

Description

Egg tempera paint on slightly curved wood panel. The wood is painted deep red and is followed by brown, yellow, and finally a thin bright red border of the focal image. There is a Cyrillic inscription on top in yellow on an olive green background. The image shows Saint John with his feet on a purple pedestal telling the scribe Prokhorus scripture, who writes it in a book with a quill pen and who's feet are on a teal pedestal. Both men have gold leaf halos. The landscape features pink and grey mountains on an olive green background with the arm of Jesus in the upper left corner.

Type of Painting

Panel

Artwork Details

Medium

Tempera

Subject Place

* Untyped Subject Place

The Scheuring Icon Collection

Acquisition

Accession

2005.02

Source or Donor

Betsy Scheuring

Acquisition Method

Gift

Credit Line

Gift of Betsy Scheuring

Made/Created

Date made

1875 - 1900

Place

Country

Russia

Dimensions

Height

8-3/4 in

Width

7 in

Depth

1-1/4 in

Exhibitions

Spirit Made Tangible: The Scheuring Icon Collection (2006)
Surveying the Sacred: Analysis of the Scheuring Collection of Eastern Orthodox Icons (2025)

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Cultural/Historical Context

Label

St. John is dictating the Gospel to his scribe in a desert landscape (for an iconographic explanation, see 2005.02.060). In the present version, the main colors are pastels, mostly pinks and green, used in a simple, uncrowded composition. The jagged mountains are fanciful and not meant to appear realistic, as in traditional Byzantine style.