The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Print in black ink of Saint John, a man with a light skin tone, wavy shoulder length hair, and the half-circle of a halo over his head. Shaded with fine, even hash marks, and draped in heavily folded robes, he stands within an architectural niche. Facing and looking slightly to our left, lips pinched together, he points with his right hand to a chalice he holds in his left hand from which a serpent emerges.

St. John with Serpent in Chalice

c. 1480–1500

Israhel van Meckenem

(German, c. 1440–1503)

after Hans Holbein

(German, c. 1465–1524)
Germany
engraving
Sheet: 20.3 x 10 cm (8 x 3 15/16 in.)
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1925.991
Catalogue raisonné: Lehrs IX.241.286
Location: 101B Prints & Drawings

Did You Know?

Saint John was an especially popular saint throughout the Middle Ages and into the early modern era because his devotion to Christ set an example for all good Christians.

Description

According to legend, John the Evangelist was given a cup of poisoned wine that he drank without harm. As emblems of the tale, John’s chalice symbolizes the Christian faith prevailing over death, signified by the serpent. As a print, Meckenem's representation of Saint John like a sculpture in an architectural niche made it possible for more people to personally own a religious image that they might otherwise only have seen at a church.
  • ?–1925
    Maurice Gobin [1883–1962], Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    December 30, 1925–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • In Vino Veritas (In Wine, Truth). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 7, 2025-January 11, 2026).
    Sacred and Profane in Late Gothic Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 2-August 2, 1987).
    40th Anniversary Exhibition of the Print Club of Cleveland. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (December 3, 1959-January 20, 1960).
    15th Century German Engravings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 15-December 11, 1938).
    15th Century German and Netherlands Prints from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 11-28, 1935).
    Italian and German Prints of the 15th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29, 1933-January 3, 1934).
  • {{cite web|title=St. John with Serpent in Chalice|url=false|author=Israhel van Meckenem, Hans Holbein|year=c. 1480–1500|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1925.991