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This representation, unusual in Spanish painting, focuses on an episode related by Jacobus de Voragine in The Golden Legend. Upon his return to Ephesus after his exile on Pathmos, St John the Evangelist met the funeral procession for Drusiana, one of his devout followers, and invoked God to resurrect her. Along with two other panels by the same artist kept in the Bilbao museum, this one was part of a large altarpiece dedicated to the life of the saint.
The work presents the distinctive traits of the Master of Saint Nicholas: the hands of the characters appear in different positions and even point to the central motif with a fore-finger; their faces are depicted from the front and reveal narrow chins, well-defined bone structures, clear complexions and peculiar almond-shaped eyes, with eyelids that droop a little and foreheads slightly knitted.
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