Saint John the Baptist Bearing Witness
ca. 1600
Medium
Oil on copper
Dimensions
21 3/8 x 17 1/8 in. (54.3 x 43.5 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Fabrizio Moretti and Adam Williams, in honor of Everett Fahy, 2009
Accession Number
2009.252
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the early Baroque masterpiece *Saint John the Baptist Bearing* (ca. 1600), Annibale Carracci captures a pivotal biblical moment: John the Baptist gesturing toward the young Jesus Christ, whom he proclaims as the Lamb of God. Painted during Carracci's influential Roman period, this intimate scene blends spiritual devotion with a lush landscape background, evoking the natural world as a stage for divine revelation. Carracci, a leader of the Bolognese school alongside his brother Agostino and cousin Ludovico, drew from Renaissance masters like Correggio and Titian, infusing his work with natur...
About the Artist
Annibale Carracci · 1560–1609
Annibale was considered one of the greatest Italian painters of his age. His style is marked by naturalism combined with the formal language of Classicism in a grand and monumental style. Annibale was also instrumental in evolving the ideal, classical landscape and is generally credited with the invention of caricature. Italian painter. Comment on works: Mythology.