Saint John the Evangelist's Vision of Jerusalem

This painting, contracted on 23 November 1635, was executed for the convent church of Santa Paula in Seville. It is evident that the artist had mastered an Italianate manner of painting; the figure of the angel alone is sufficient to corroborate this observation. The partly clad body, the complicated, foreshortened pose, and the mastery of anatomical drawing are unique elements in Sevillian painting of the time, as are the deep perspective of the landscape and the delicate, translucent colours.

Cano’s mastery of this facile, sophisticated style suggests that he had passed time in Italy, although there is not the slightest evidence that he left the city until his final departure in 1638.