Wing of an altar predella: Saint John Evangelist

Wolf Traut painted this Saint John the Evangelist as a wing of an altar predella around 1510. Predella panels—the horizontal band at the base of altarpieces—typically depicted smaller-scale narrative scenes or individual saints, serving as a visual foundation for the larger compositions above. The tempera-on-panel medium required a carefully gessoed surface and was painted in fine, precise layers, yielding a luminous, jewel-like surface of great durability.

The small-scale predella panel shows Traut's precise Nuremberg drawing style adapted to an intimate format, with careful rendering of the Evangelist's attributes and contemplative pose.