St. John the Baptist

Abstract

The Chapel of St. John the Baptist is the first chapel on the left side of the Lecce Cathedral. The altarpiece, painted in white and gold, is attributed to Giuseppe Zimbalo 1620-1710. In the central niche is a sculpture of St. John the Baptist (made of local ""Lecce stone"") by an unknown artist. This sculpture, larger in scale than the other sculptures in the chapel, came from the old cathedral, which was rebuilt in the mid-17th century, and so this sculpture must be from the sixteenth or early seventeenth century. The Baptist is depicted in a pristine white fur tunic, a departure from the more common and rustic depiction of him in brown fur. Flanking the Baptist are statues of St.Onuphrius, on the right, and St. Clement on the left. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.