The Story
St. John with Serpent in Chalice, c. 1480–1500. Israhel van Meckenem (German, c. 1440–1503), after Hans Holbein (German, c. 1465–1524). Engraving; sheet: 20.3 x 10 cm (8 x 3 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1925.991
Created in 1500 during the Renaissance period, this work belongs firmly within the portrait tradition. Israhel van Meckenem worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in engraving, measuring Sheet: 20.3 x 10 cm (8 x 3 15/16 in.), the surface rewards close looking. Israhel van Meckenem builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
