St John Altarpiece Reed believes the similarities so pronounced that it is highly probable that the two were intended to hang together at the Miraflores monastery. St John Altarpiece The St John Altarpiece (German - "Johannesaltar", "Johannestafel" or "Johannesretabel") is a c. 1455 oil-on-oak wood panel altarpiece by the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden, now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. The triptych is linked to the artist's earlier "Miraflores Altarpiece" in its symbolic motifs, format and intention. The panels show – from left to right – the birth of Saint John, the baptism of Christ by John in Jordan, and the beheading
St John Altarpiece (Memling) it presents a narrative, meant to emulate a vision the donors or viewers would experience when viewing the inside panels. Unlike most altarpieces of these types, Memling's fails to present a single unifying iconographical focus and is quite generalized with themes that seem unsuited for its specific location, according to Blum. She speculates the donors may have chosen the specific iconography, which "celebrated intercessory saints on the interior". It is an unusual painting in that it seems to "have served a double function: that of personal propitiation and that of public altarpiece, which portrayed the role of the religious community