Simone Martini Saint John the Evangelist Siena, 1320 Tempera on wood 41.7 x 30.3 cm This panel formed the right panel of a portable triptych (a painting of three parts) with the crucified Christ in the centre, and the Virgin Mary on the left. These two fragments remain lost. In 1997, the Barber commissioned icon … Read more
Cima da Conegliano The Crucifixion Conegliano, Veneto, about 1488-93 Tempera on wood 82.5 x 115.2 cm Jesus is crucified in front of his mother, the Virgin Mary, and friend, John. John grimaces in horror, unable to look upon Jesus’s body. The cross stands imposingly at the front of the composition, confronting the viewer with its … Read more
Neri di Bicci Saint John the Baptist Leaving for the Desert Florence, 1470 Tempera on wood 23.8 x 37.8 cm The young John the Baptist travels from the city to the desert to preach about Jesus, his maternal cousin. He leaves his disheartened parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and doesn’t look back. This is a very … Read more
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist Paris, 1869 Oil on canvas 124.5 x 166 cm Salome, to the right, witnesses the execution of Saint John; she holds a dish to receive his severed head. In the biblical story Salome’s dance enchanted Herod and his wife Herodias, who persuaded her husband … Read more