Young disciple and aged divine

By the end of the nineteenth century, most medieval churches in England had received some attention from Victorian restorers and from makers of stained glass. Face the altar and you will often see, in stained glass above it or to each side, late Victorian images of the Virgin Mary and, usually to the right, St John the Evangelist, standing at the foot of the Cross (Figure 1). Like their medieval precursors, Victorian artists tended to portray the Evangelist as a beardless and long-haired young man. If his gospel was the last to be written and if he also wrote the Apocalypse, or book of Revelation, in exile on Patmos, John the beloved disciple who had leaned ‘on Jesus’ bosom’ at the last supper must have been young; or so tradition taught.