The figure of St John the Evangelist, together with the figure of Madonna (NG P 186), probably originally belonged to the Crucifixion scene in the high altar in the monastic oratory of the Franciscan monastery in Kamnik. The altar was most likely created before the consecration of the church in 1730, and was renovated and completed in 1870 by Franc Ksaver Tončič. On that occasion, the Baroque wooden figures in the niche were replaced by plaster statues.

The saint’s image demonstrates all the stylistic characteristics of the Franciscan carving workshop – the prolonged, emaciated body is twisted in an S-line, expressing an emphasized emotional rapture.