Some of the old German representations of St. John are of singular beauty: for example, one by _Hans Hemling_, one by _Isaac von Melem_,[128] standing figures; simple, graceful, majestic; in the prime of youth, with a charming expression of devotion in the heads: both hold the sacramental cup with the serpent; no eagle; therefore St. John is here to be considered as the apostle only: when, with the cup, the eagle is placed by his side, he is represented in the double character of apostle and evangelist (61). [Illustration: 61 St. John (Raphael)] * * * * * In the early Siena school, and in some old illuminations, I have seen St. John carrying in his hand a radiant circle, inscribed ‘_In primo est verbum_,’ and within the circle an eagle with outspread wings: but this is uncommon. 3. St. John as the prophet, the writer of the Revelation, is usually an aged man, with a white flowing beard, seated in a rocky desert; the sea in the distance, or flowing round him, to represent the island of Patmos; the eagle at his side. In the old frescoes, and the illuminated MSS. of the Apocalypse, this is the usual representation. Some examples of the ideal and devotional figures of St. John, as evangelist and prophet, will give an idea of the variety of treatment in this favourite subject:— 1. Ancient Greek. St. John, with the head of an eagle and large wings, the figure fully draped, is soaring upwards. In such representations the inscription is usually ‘_Quasi aquila ascendet et avolabit_’ (‘Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle.’ Jer. xlix. 22). 2. Perugino. St. John as an aged man, with long grey beard and flowing hair, attended by a black eagle, looking up at the Madonna in glory.[129] 3. Raphael (?). St. John, young and beautiful, mounted on the back of an eagle, and soaring heavenwards: in one hand he holds a tablet, in the other a pen: sea and land below. This treatment, which recalls the antique Jupiter bestriding his eagle, appears to me at once too theatrical and too commonplace for Raphael.[130] [Illustration: 62 St. John] 4. Correggio. St. John seated writing his gospel; the eagle at his feet is pluming his wing: inscribed ‘_Altius cæteris Dei patefecit arcana_.’ One of the series of Evangelists in the Duomo of Parma—wonderfully beautiful.