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St. John Baptist
Judith and Holofernes
Madonna with child
San Sebastiano cured by the angels
Madonna of the straw
Salome with the head of the Baptist
The elegant snack
Corsini throne
Venus reaches dying Adonis
Dispute of Jesus among the doctors
The torture of Prometheus
Denial of Peter
Madonna of the milk
Triptych with Ascension, Last Judgment, Pentecost
Allegory of the four elements - Air, Water, Earth, Fire
The hare
Polyptych with Madonna and Child with Saints
The tribute of the currency
Adoration of the shepherds
St. John Baptist
Judith and Holofernes
Madonna with child
San Sebastiano cured by the angels
Madonna of the straw
Salome with the head of the Baptist
The elegant snack
Corsini throne
Venus reaches dying Adonis
Dispute of Jesus among the doctors
The torture of Prometheus
Denial of Peter
Madonna of the milk
Triptych with Ascension, Last Judgment, Pentecost
Allegory of the four elements - Air, Water, Earth, Fire
The hare
Polyptych with Madonna and Child with Saints
The tribute of the currency
Adoration of the shepherds

St. John Baptist

Michelangelo Merisi, detto Caravaggio

Displayed in:

Corsini Gallery

Corsini Gallery

Via della Lungara, 10 , Rome

Closed today: open tomorrow at 10:00

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The autography of this painting has long been doubted, although there are other versions of the same subject made by Caravaggio in a rather similar way. We see a young St. John the Baptist without a beard, half-naked and covered in a red cloak, with the cross-shaped staff resting at his side, but without the traditional camel fur that appears in other versions. Caravaggio depicts a moment of rest during John's life of penance in the desert, but compared to traditional iconography the saint's attributes are almost marginalized: the bowl, with which John poured the water in the baptism of Jesus, is as if deprived of its role sacral, while the cross is barely visible, hidden by the edge of the painting. In this way Caravaggio has updated the representation of the young Baptist in the desert, giving greater immediacy to a theme that has often lent itself to interpretations in which the sacred and the profane are mixed.
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Details

Title: St. John Baptist

Author: Michelangelo Merisi, detto Caravaggio

Date: 1604-1606

Technique: Oil painting on canvas

Displayed in: Corsini Gallery

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