Saint John the Baptist

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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A young man wearing only an animal skin is illuminated against a dark rock, leaning forward to drink water trickling from a spring. With one hand he props himself up on the rock and with the other he holds a reed cross – an attribute which identifies him as Saint John the Baptist, the desert hermit who foretold the coming of Christ.

This painting was once attributed to Caravaggio, or to one of his followers, but it was probably painted in the mid-seventeenth century in Rome. Caravaggio painted a number of pictures of the Baptist as an adolescent, including a scene of him leaning on a rock and drinking directly from a spring, of which numerous copies and variants exist, attesting to its popularity in the seventeenth century. Although not directly related to that composition, our painting’s tight crop, dramatic lighting and naturalistic rendering of the Baptist’s body are all ultimately inspired by Caravaggio’s example.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Saint John the Baptist

Date

probably 1640-60

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 77.8 x W 62.3 cm

Accession number

NG6455

Acquisition method

Bequeathed by Dame Joan Evans, 1979

Work type

Painting

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The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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