Saint John the Evangelist

Sassetta painted this Saint John the Evangelist around 1412, early in a career that would make him the most innovative Sienese painter of the fifteenth century. Sassetta's art bridges the gap between the decorative tradition of Sienese Gothic painting and a new attention to light, space, and human emotion. Sassetta — Stefano di Giovanni — was the dominant painter in Siena during the first half of the fifteenth century, maintaining the city's Gothic tradition of refined spirituality and jewel-like color even as Florentine artists were developing the naturalistic revolution of the Early Renaissance.

The figure of the Evangelist displays Sassetta's emerging personal style, combining Sienese refinement in line and color with a new solidity of form that distinguishes his work from his more conservative contemporaries.