Cleveland Museum of Art

Saint John the Baptist

Dieric BoutsLinkedCulture matchlcp-8d51f7e21ad0

Date: c. 1475–85
Medium: oil on wood (grisaille)
Culture: Netherlands, Leuven, 15th century
Department: Medieval Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 128390

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

This panel once formed part of an altarpiece painted for the Church of Saint Laurentius in Cologne. It originally comprised the reverse of the arrest of Christ, now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. Another grisaille panel representing Saint John the Evangelist, also in Munich, formed the exterior of the resurrection. The grisaille technique was a monochromatic method utilizing various shades of gray, often in imitation of sculpture, as is the case here. The illusionistic effect suggests a sculpture not set back in a niche, but clearly separated from it to enhance the three-dimensional appearance. Dieric Bouts was born in Haarlem in Holland, but was mainly active in Leuven in the South Netherlands where he was the city painter from 1468. This painting appears to be the work of a close follower. Paintings like this one that are designed to trick the eye are known as trompe-l'œil.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line: Gift of the Hanna Fund
Provenance: St. Lorenzkirche, Cologne (until 1818); Fochem coll., Cologne (1822, when the altar was divided); H. W. Campe, Cologne (Leipzig sale 1827); Duke of Anhalt-Dessau, Schloss Wörlitz and Dessau (1864, 1925); (Goudstikker, Amsterdam, 1928); Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, Lugano (1930, sold 1948)