Saint John the Baptist

Giovanni Battista Gaulli 1639 - 1709

Summary

Saint John the Baptist is seen here with his attributes, the lamb and the banner ‘Ecce Agnus Dei' (Behold the Lamb of God). St John looks out at the viewer and points to Christ, who is reduced to a tiny figure in the background landscape, thus involving the viewer in the narrative. According to the text from St John (1.29): ‘John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the Sin of the world.' The painting is a variant of an altarpiece of c.1670-71 in the church of San Nicola da Tolentino, Rome, the most significant difference being the position of St John's right hand, which in the altarpiece is shown against the landscape. The pointing gesture is therefore clearer in the version in Manchester. Although this is a devotional picture, it was not unusual in the Baroque period to represent the ascetic Saint John as a beautiful young man. The pose of the figure is based on a painting of the Baptist by Caravaggio in the Capitoline Picture Gallery, Rome. Caravaggio's figure was derived from two motifs on Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling: one of the ignudi (nude youths) and the pointing finger of God from the Creation of Adam. Giovanni Battista Gaulli, called 'Il Bacicco', was born in Genoa, but settled in Rome as a young man, where he worked closely with the great Baroque sculptor and architect, Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680), who introduced him to important patrons, including the Chigi. Gaulli was highly successful, enjoying the patronage of several popes. His numerous important commissions included a fresco for the the vault of the great Jesuit Church of Il Gesù, which is recognised as one of the greatest works of Baroque art. Manchester's painting can be dated on stylistic grounds to the mid-1670s, when Gaulli was working in the Gesù.