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Like its counterpart, the Evangelists Luke and Matthew, this painting can almost be described as brunaille (painting in brown on brown). Where the hem of St Mark's garment hangs down, it can be seen that Tintoretto left large areas of the dark ground as it was; he had to paint the picture and deliver it ready for installation within a very short time.
These two paintings adorned the inner sides of two organ wings, and were therefore visible when the organ was being played. Tintoretto ingeniously refers to this by showing all four Evangelists turning as they sit on their clouds to listen to the organ. Its sound is therefore equated with the music of heaven and the source of scriptural inspiration.
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