The young Saint John the Baptist kneeling before the young Christ who embraces him, a lamb at right, after Reni
ca. 1600–1640
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 6 1/2 in. × 5 in. (16.5 × 12.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.4895
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate etching captures a tender moment from Christian iconography: the young Saint John the Baptist kneeling in reverence before the child Christ, who embraces him warmly, with a symbolic lamb at the right—representing Christ's sacrificial role as the Lamb of God. A subtly evokes their shared destiny. Created anonymously in the 17th after Guido Reni, a leading Bolognese Baroque artist renowned for his graceful, classical figures blending Raphael's elegance with Caravaggesque drama, this print reproduces Reni's devotional composition from around 1600–1640. Etching, a revolutionary inta...
About the Artist
Guido Reni|Anonymous, 17th century · 1575–1642
Guido Reni (1575–1642) was one of the most celebrated Italian painters of the Baroque era and the dominant figure of the Bolognese School. Born into a family of musicians in Bologna, he trained first with Denys Calvaert before joining the influential Accademia degli Incamminati led by Ludovico Carracci. Reni achieved international fame through his idealizing style that combined Baroque dynamism wi...