Saint John the Baptist

Juan de Ancheta Spanish

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 535

Although incorporating classical, heroic elements of Michelangelo's figural style, this work displays the continuing Spanish taste for polychromy. Particularly lovely is the use of estofado in the landscape background.

Dressed in animal skin like the Baptist by Martínez Montañés (63.40), here John points directly to the lamb of God, a symbol of Christ, resting on a volume of the gospel.

Saint John the Baptist, Juan de Ancheta (Spanish, ca. 1540–1592), Wood, polychromed and gilded, Spanish, Navarre

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