This haunting picture has all the characteristics of El Greco’s late style, so clearly seen in the way the Saint’s features seem slightly out of focus while at the same time producing a feeling of movement. Although now in isolation, his sets of Apostles were carefully co-ordinated to allow the strong colours of the draperies to create a dramatic chromatic effect. The St. John the Evangelist comes from one of the series of Apostles painted by El Greco, for which there is evidence of at least five. Nine canvases survive from this particular series. They were discovered in a remote church during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, and five of them were sold off by the Spanish Government after 1945. The remaining four pictures, which are probably not by El Greco, were retained by the Spanish State and placed in the Prado, Madrid. The other five pictures, including this one, all went to American collections, three to the Clowes Fund Museum in Indianapolis, one to the Los Angeles County Museum and this one to the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, but was later deaccessioned.

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