The Bible in Pictures

A huge figure in blue kneels at the left and throws up his arms: John, who sees the vision. Before him naked bodies stretch upward and reach for the robes that small angels bring down to them.

John sees the souls of those “that were slain for the word of God”, and white robes are given to them (Revelation 6:9–11). El Greco painted the canvas for the hospital of St John the Baptist in Toledo and left it unfinished at his death in 1614. The upper part was cut off in the nineteenth century, so that the vision now ends in a ragged sky.

John's hands reach beyond what the canvas still shows.

John's hands reach beyond what the canvas still shows.

The risen bodies are pale and long, without weight. One group receives a yellow cloth, another a green one, a third a white one.

The risen bodies are pale and long, without weight. One group receives a yellow cloth, another a green one, a third a white one.