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Source Description
Saint John the Baptist was Christ's greatest prophet. Pointing to his staff, he is depicted as "the voice in the wilderness" who prepared the way for the Lord, as described in the New Testament. His primitive garment of camel's skin and his bony appearance speak to his ascetic life in the desert, where he preached repentance to prepare for the coming of Christ. His eyes appear large, as the flesh of his face is sunken. The saint's bodily neglect has contributed to his sanctity, symbolized by the splendidly tooled gold background. His name is written in his halo, and on his scroll can be read in Latin the words that he exclaimed upon seeing Jesus: "Behold the Lamb of God." The panel was originally one of the side panels of a polyptych (altarpiece made of several panels).
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
40301
label
Saint John the Baptist
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
40301
sourceUrl
contentType
drawing
stage
normalized
title
Saint John the Baptist
description
Saint John the Baptist was Christ's greatest prophet. Pointing to his staff, he is depicted as "the voice in the wilderness" who prepared the way for the Lord, as described in the New Testament. His primitive garment of camel's skin and his bony appearance speak to his ascetic life in the desert, where he preached repentance to prepare for the coming of Christ. His eyes appear large, as the flesh of his face is sunken. The saint's bodily neglect has contributed to his sanctity, symbolized by the splendidly tooled gold background. His name is written in his halo, and on his scroll can be read in Latin the words that he exclaimed upon seeing Jesus: "Behold the Lamb of God." The panel was originally one of the side panels of a polyptych (altarpiece made of several panels).
provenance
Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1881 catalogue: no. 51; 1897 catalogue: no. 69, as Verrocchio]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1490-1499 (Renaissance)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Painting & Drawing
panel paintings
polyptychs
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
117.8
height
38.2
dimensionsRaw
Painted surface H: 46 3/8 x W: 15 1/16 in. (117.8 x 38.2 cm); Panel H: 48 3/8 x W: 15 3/4 x D: 1 1/4 in. (122.9 x 40 x 3.1 cm)
Source extras
inscriptions
[Translation] Behold the Lamb of God; [Transcription] On scroll: ECCE.AN
GNVS DEI; [Transcription] On halo: S.IOVANES BATTISTA
med
tempera, oil, and gold leaf on wood panel
creator_ids
5220
collection_ids
REN
exhibition_ids
none
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
b7290d5ed1d0548f