St. John the Baptist

Abstract

This painted wood sculpture has been attributed on the basis of style to the Sienese sculptor Domenico di Niccolò dei Cori in the latter part of his career (c. 1440-50). We see the saint enveloped in a royal red, blue and gold robe, but he is also shown as the ascetic who lived in the wilderness, thin and wearing a camel hair tunic. Even the signs of his self-denial, however, are made splendid, as the richly coloured camel hair is textured. Here John, stares intently outward, his lips slightly parted as if speaking. His finger points to the side, presumably to Christ, making this the moment in which John says "Behold the Lamb of God." The work came from the Pieve di San Giovanni Battista a Rosia (Sovicille) and is now housed in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.