Saint John of the Cross

Baldassare Franceschini, il Volterrano 1611 - 1690

The vision of St John of the Cross, with a pentimento putto; kneeling saint, with two studies of Christ bearing the Cross at l, putti above

Red chalk, with some pen and brown ink, with piece overlaid

187 millimetres x 265 millimetres

The British Museum, London

Baldassare Franceschini, il Volterrano 1611 - 1690

Vision of St John of the Cross, with a pentimento; a church interior with the saint kneeling on the ground, Christ with a cross in a niche at l, putti above

Inscription Content: Inscribed: "IOANIDIS [QVIS?] PRO LABORIBUS?"

Red chalk, with piece overlaid

328 millimetres x 255 millimetres

The British Museum, London

In order to arrive there,
to arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
you must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
you must go by the way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
you must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
you must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know
and what you own is what you do not own
and where you are is where you are not.

T.S. Eliot, East Coker (1940)