Florentine by birth, Perino was trained in Raphael’s workshop in Rome, where he soon became one of the most inventive artists of his generation. This is a rare, early devotional painting. It includes traditional symbols such as the goldfinch (symbolic of the Resurrection), but also more unusual details, especially a young Saint John who is crowned with grape leaves and wears a leopard skin, usually associated with the god Bacchus—a mingling of pagan and Christian iconography.
