Art Institute of Chicago
Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Diego Velázquez (Spanish, 1599–1660)LinkedCulture matchlcp-471afeda7fd9
- Date
- c. 1622
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Culture
- Seville
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 6831
From the Art Institute of Chicago record
This painting depicts a young Saint John the Baptist living as a hermit in the wilderness. His cross of reeds, pointing gesture, and the nearby lamb refer to his role as a prophet foretelling the coming of Christ, the so-called “lamb of God,” in the New Testament. Previously attributed to an unknown Sevillian artist, this painting has recently been recognized as the work of a young Diego Velázquez. The treatment of the saint is more idealized than figures in Velázquez’s earliest work, suggesting that it may have been made after his brief visit in 1622 to Madrid, where Italian paintings in the royal collection exposed him to new ways of portraying the human figure.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Gift of Barbara Deering Danielson
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300033618
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