Getty Museum
Head of St. John the Baptist
Creator
Jean-Baptiste (called Joanny) ChatignyFrench Artist · 1834–1886
All works by this person →Jean-Baptiste Chatigny was primarily a painter, but he also made prints and sculpted. He began his career as a student at the École des Beaux-Arts in his native Lyon, where he studied copperplate engraving. He then lived in Paris, where he worked for twelve years and became acquainted with artists who would influence his preference for religious and spiritual subjects. By 1862 Chatigny had returne
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1869
- Medium
- Bronze
- Culture
- French
- Department
- Sculpture
- Institution
- Getty Museum
- Object ID
- 1f8e9a51-7cd7-4fd4-a75d-01f39cf2d387
From the Getty Museum record
John the Baptist, imprisoned in Jerusalem for condemning King Herod’s marriage to his sister-in-law, was beheaded, as Herod’s stepdaughter Salome demanded. John’s gaunt face, his eyes and mouth slightly open and his abundant hair dissolving into the platter, evoke the saint’s tragic decapitation. Cast with a loop at the top of the charger to be hung on a wall, this medallion depicts John’s severed head dramatically, the implausible vertical display attesting to the missing body.
The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Get printable QR codesHide QR codes
Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Getty Museum and other institutions.