St. John the Bishonen

Amy Welborn pointed me to Akma's random thought on debunking The DaVinci Code. Apparently, St. John the Evangelist's long flowing hair and youthful beardless appearance in Western art are being used by That Stupid Book as "proof" that St. John is actually St. Mary Magdalene. Er. Whatever. I guess that means all those bishonen Japanese men in the manga and anime are all women, too. Heh. Oh, and God forbid that artists should ever want to portray male beauty of any kind on a saint. (Female beauty is apparently the only thing okay....)
Also, this code thing is so important that artistic taste and what will sell to women has no effect whatsoever on subject matter. Suuuuuure.

Okay, so now the frivolous question: which is more bishy, St. John or the guys from Japan? I'm thinkin' the Evangelist is also a contenda. Take a look and see if you agree!

The Master of the Franciscan Crucifix's St. John

Martini's angsty St. John

Through Akma, Vanucci's St. John and St. Augustine

Van Eyck's St. John

El Greco's St. John (yow!)

An anonymous German Gothic sculptor's St. John

Barocci's CLAMP-like swirly St. John

Look here for lots of links to St. John pictures.