Gallery Label This panel concluded the series to which the adjacent picture belonged. It shows Saint John the Baptist preaching. The two Pharisees at the left gesture towards the advancing figure of Christ. A work of great distinction, the picture is in many respects superior to the companion panel and must be by another artist. Collaborations of this sort were common in the Renaissance. A tentative attribution has been made to Raffaello Botticini, whose later works, however, never attain this quality. The affinities some of the figures show with the Doni Tondo of Michelangelo further point up the stature of the piece. Michelangelo and Granacci were friends and fellow pupils in the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio.
Notes This picture depicts the moment when the Baptist recognizes Jesus Christ as the Son of God and says "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
Provenance the Tornabuoni family, Florence; [Samuel Woodburn, London, until after 1850; bought from a descendant of the Tornabuoni family; sold to Ashburnham]; Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham, Ashburnham Place, Battle, Sussex (after 1850–d. 1878; cat., 1878, as by Ghirlandaio); Bertram Ashburnham, 5th Earl of Ashburnham, Ashburnham Place (1878–at least 1894; sold to Donaldson); [Sir George Donaldson, London; sold to Robinson]; Sir Joseph B. Robinson, Cape Town (by 1923–d. 1929; his sale, Christie's, London, July 6, 1923, no. 41, as by Ghirlandaio, bought in); his daughter, Ida Louise Robinson, Princess Labia, Cape Town (1929–d. 1961); her sons, Prince and Count don Giuseppe Labia and Count don Natale Antonio Labia (1961–70; sale, Sotheby's, London, June 24, 1970, no. 40, as by Close Circle of Francesco Granacci, to MMA)
Exhibition History London. Royal Academy of Arts. "The Robinson Collection," 1958, no. 20 (as "St. John Baptist preaching in the Wilderness," by Francesco Granacci, lent by the Princess Labia).
Cape Town. National Gallery of South Africa. "The Sir Joseph Robinson Collection," 1959, no. 5 (lent by the Princess Labia).
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Sammlung Sir Joseph Robinson, 1840–1929: Werke europäischer Malerei vom 15. bis 19. Jahrhundert," August 17–September 16, 1962, no. 3 (lent by Count Natale Labia and Dr. Joseph Labia).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 15, 1970–February 15, 1971, no. 188b.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Florentine Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum," June 15–August 15, 1971, no catalogue.
References Catalogue of the Very Celebrated & Valuable Series of Capital Pictures . . . Formed . . . by . . . the late Samuel Woodburn, Esq. . . . . Christie's, London. June 9 and 11, 1860, p. 19, under no. 77, mentions the series of three works in the entry for the panel now in Liverpool [see Notes], which is attributed to Domenico Ghirlandaio; states that the Liverpool panel was "obtained from a descendant of the Tornabuoni family, for whom it was painted"; identifies the series with three works described by Vasari, and calls them "finished models for . . . large frescoes".Ashburnham House catalogue . 1878 [see Ref. Waterhouse 1958], as by Ghirlandaio.The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance . New York, 1896, p. 115, lists the two MMA panels as early works by Granacci in the collection of Lord Ashburnham, London.Italian Pictures of the Renaissance . Oxford, 1932, p. 266, lists the two MMA panels as in the Joseph Robinson collection, Capetown.Pitture italiane del rinascimento . Milan, 1936, p. 228.Connoisseur 142 (November 1958), p. 96, no. 20, ill. p. 95.Burlington Magazine 100 (September 1958), p. 300, fig. 3, believes that the two MMA panels are by different artists, assigning 1970.134.1, along with the Liverpool panel, to a follower of Ghirlandaio, and tentatively attributing 1970.134.2 to Granacci.Apollo 68 (August 1958), p. 40, doubts that the two MMA panels are by the same artist.The Robinson Collection . Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1958, pp. 15–16, no. 20, gives provenance details and information on the unpublished Ashburnham catalogue of 1878; attributes all three panels to Granacci and states that "all three are somehow connected with Domenico Ghirlandajo's frescoes in Sta Maria Novella of 1486/90, in whose execution Granacci was involved".Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School . London, 1963, vol. 1, pp. 98–99, calls them cassone panels.Foreign Schools Catalogue . 1, Liverpool, 1963, pp. 83–84, under no. 2783, attributes the three panels to Granacci, with probably some help from assistants accounting for the slight differences in style; states that they were probably made to decorate the walls of a private room, and that the series must originally have included at least two more scenes depicting the baptism of Christ, the imprisonment of the Baptist, the dance of Salome, and the beheading of the Baptist; notes that a label on the back of the Liverpool panel attributes it to Ghirlandaio, states that it was painted for the Tornabuoni family, and identifies it as a sketch for the frescoes in Santa Maria Novella; rejects all three statements.Letter to Everett Fahy . August 3, 1970, states that in 1966 he identified the Cleveland panel as an early work by Granacci and belonging to the same room decoration as the MMA and Liverpool paintings.Annual Report and Bulletin of the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool 1 (1970–71), pp. 32–37, fig. 13, states that the series was made as a decorative cycle for a Florentine palace and dates it to the first years of the sixteenth century.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 29 (June 1971), p. 438, ill.Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage . Exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, 1971, unpaginated, under no. 12.Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Florentine School . New York, 1971, pp. 181–86, ill., date both MMA panels about 1510 or earlier; attribute 1970.134.1 to Granacci, the Cleveland panel to the Master of the Spiridon Story of Joseph, and this work and the Liverpool panel to different anonymous assistants of Granacci; see close similarities between this picture and early works by Raffaello Botticini; state that the series was made for the chapel or oratory of a private home in Florence; mention a panel attributed to Granacci depicting the baptism of Christ which may also have formed part of the series (formerly Gerini collection, Florence; destroyed 1944).Francesco Granacci . Munich, 1974, pp. 24–25, 132–35, 175, 194, 199–200, no. 182, figs. 18, 145–46 (overall and details), attributes it to an artist between Granacci and Raffaello Botticini; agrees that the Baptism formerly in the Gerini collection [see Ref. Zeri and Gardner 1971] probably originally formed part of the series.in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1965–1975 . New York, 1975, p. 89.Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool: Foreign Catalogue . [Liverpool], 1977, text vol., pp. 86–87, under no. 2783, find an attribution to Raffaello Botticini [see Ref. Zeri and Gardner 1971] more reasonable than one to Raffaellino del Garbo [see Ref. Venturi n.d.]; date the series about 1505–10; consider the traditional Tornabuoni provenance credible;.Italian and Spanish Paintings in the National Gallery of Scotland . [Edinburgh], 1978, p. 63, fig. 10 (detail).Metropolitan Museum Journal 24 (1989), pp. 153–66, fig. 4, notes the differences in style and quality between the panels; suggests that chronologically this panel would have followed the Baptism of Christ (lost)."Spalliera" Paintings of Renaissance Tuscany: Fables of Poets for Patrician Homes . University Park, Pa., 1994, pp. 87, 96–97, 156–57, no. 16.3, fig. 16.3, suggests that the series was commissioned by a younger member of the Tornabuoni family as a tribute to Giovanni, the paterfamilias; dates it about 1510.in The Dictionary of Art . 13, New York, 1996, p. 280.
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