Christian Jorhan the Elder
Saint John
1754-1764
Physical Qualities
Polychromed linden wood, 18 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 5 in. (47 x 16.5 x 12.7 cm.)
Credit Line
Purchase with exchange funds from Gift of Albert Hendler, Bernard R. Hendler, Bernice Hendler Kolodny and Florence Hendler Trupp
Object Number
1959.43
This carved wooden statue depicting Saint John the Evangelist was probably once part of a larger sculptural composition, most likely a representation of the Crucifixion. The saint, one of the twelve Apostles, was often shown with Mary, the mother of Jesus, on Mount Calvary.
This work has been attributed to Christian Jorhan the Elder, a member of a distinguished family of sculptors working in Germany. The exaggerated pose, overwrought facial expression, as well as the voluminous folds of the drapery are all characteristic of the 18th century Rococo style that prevailed in Bavaria where Jorhan settled in 1755.
Baltimore Museum of Art by the gift of Albert Hendler, Bernard R. Hendler, Bernice Hendler Kolodny, and Florence Hendler Trupp, 1959; Victor D. Spark, New York, NY.
Baltimore Museum of Art, Age of Elegance: The Rococo and Its Effect, BMA, April 25 to June 14, 1959.
Age of Elegance: The Rococo and Its Effect (The Baltimore Museum of Art: Baltimore, 1959), cat. no. 230.
Sunday Sun Magazine, December 20, 1959, section “Object of the Week,” ill.
The Art Quarterly, vol. XXII, no. 3 (Autumn 1959), 278 and 280, ill.
Emporium: Instituto italiano d’arti grafiche Bergamo (April 1960): 178, ill. (Baltimora: Acquisizioni nuovi del Baltimore Museum of Art).
“A Tribute to Adelyn D. Breeskin,” BMA News Quarterly vol. XXV, no. 4 (Summer 1962), 21, ill.
William Seitz, “Quality in Sculpture,” in Baltimore Museum of Art, Annual III. Studies in Honor of Gertrude Rosenthal, Part One (Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1968), 59, ill.
On View at the BMA
