Giovanni di Paolo (Italian, 1398–1482)
The Head of Saint John the Baptist Brought before Herod
INV-1617
Giovanni di Paolo (Italian, 1398–1482)1455–60
The Head of Saint John the Baptist Brought before Herod
Giovanni di Paolo (Italian, 1398–1482) →Renaissance15th centurytemperaItalian
Date
1455–60
Medium
Tempera on panel
Dimensions
68.5 × 40.2 cm (27 × 15 13/16 in.); Framed: 79.4 × 52.1 × 8.9 cm (31 1/4 × 20 1/2 × 3 1/2 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
This series of panels illustrates scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist, a prophet who foretold Jesus’s arrival as the Christian savior. The Art Institute’s collection includes six panels that were originally part of a group of 12 that possibly formed the doors of a reliquary shrine to the saint.
The narrative begins as John leaves civilization, entering the wilderness to become a hermit. In a following scene, John wears a hair shirt, a coarse undergarment symbolizing his ascetic life, as he announces that Jesus is the savior prophesied as the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God. Subsequent panels show John’s imprisonment and violent execution at the hands of Herod, ruler of Galilee. Giovanni di Paolo related the Baptist’s complex biography with expressive figures represented multiple times to indicate their movement through highly imaginative and stylized settings.
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