Diego Velázquez (Spanish, 1599–1660)
Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
INV-6831
Diego Velázquez (Spanish, 1599–1660)c. 1622
Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Diego Velázquez (Spanish, 1599–1660) →17th CenturyBaroqueoil on canvasspanish
Date
c. 1622
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
175.3 × 152.5 cm (69 × 60 in.); Framed: 202.3 × 184.2 × 9.2 cm (79 5/8 × 72 1/2 × 3 5/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Barbara Deering Danielson
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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