Category:John the Baptist--art (subject)

Annunciation to Zacharias, Masters of Florence Baptistry, 1300

Visitation of Mary, Ghirlandaio, 1490

Birth, Naming, and Circumcision of John the Baptist, Salimbeni, 1416

Holy Family with John the Baptist, Raphael, 1507

Child John the Baptist with Jesus, Salimbeni, 1416

Blessing of John the Baptist, Lippi, 1465

John the Baptist in the Deserta as a Boy, Murillo, 1665

John the Baptist in the Deserta as a Young Adult, Leonardo, 1516

Preaching of John the Baptist, Ghirlandaio, 1490

John Baptizing the Crowds, Salimbeni, 1416

Baptism of Jesus, Verrocchio, Leonardo, 1475

John the Baptist Confronting Herod Antipas, Masters of Florence Baptistry, 1300

Salome's Dance, Gozzoli, 1462

Beheading of John the Baptist, Caravaggio, 1608

Banquet of Herod, Donatello, 1462

Banquet of Herod, Rubens, 1638

Burial of John the Baptist, Pisano, 1336

John the Baptist (art); see John the Baptist (home page)

Fiction : John the Baptist (fiction) : John the Baptist (art) -- John the Baptist (literature) -- John the Baptist (music) -- John the Baptist (dance) -- John the Baptist (cinema)

Scholarship : John the Baptist (research) -- John the Baptist (sources)

People : John the Baptist -- Zacharias -- Elizabeth -- Mary of Nazareth -- Jesus of Nazareth -- Joseph of Nazareth -- Herod Antipas -- Herodias -- Salome -- Pharisees -- Sadducees -- Essenes

< Life of John the Baptist : Annunciation to Zacharias -- Visitation of Mary -- Birth of John the Baptist -- Child John the Baptist with Jesus -- Young John the Baptist in the Desert -- Preaching of John the Baptist -- Baptism of Jesus -- Question about Fasting -- Messengers from John the Baptist -- Death of John the Baptist -- Question about Authority -- Relics of John the Baptist >

Page authored by Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan, @2020.

Overview

See also John the Baptist iconography

In Christian tradition and iconography John the Baptist emerged from the Middle Ages as a full fledged and complex character, with a detailed biography based on scripture, hagiography, and patristic literature. No other character in the New Testament, besides Jesus and Mary of Nazareth, received so much attention. Famous artists such as Giotto, Andrea Pisano, Domenico Ghirlandaio Filippo Lippi, Andrea del Sarto, devoted large cycles to the life of John the Baptist, that came to include as many as 20 episodes, covering all aspects of his life: his birth, his childhood, his mission, his relation with Jesus, and his death

A visual biography

The biography of John the Baptist begins with the angel Gabriel announcing his birth to his father Zacharias, a Jewish priest who served in the Temple of Jerusalem. Since Zacharias initially replied with some doubts, he was struck dumb until the day of his son's birth and could communicate to others only in writing. As the son of a priest, John will be born a priest. (see Gospel of Luke.)

The next episode is the Visitation of Mary, in which we learn that John's mother Elizabeth was Mary's sister. Both women were pregnant; John and Jesus were cousins. Mary came to support her sister. Generally, Mary was believed to have left before the birth of John the Baptist but in the Golden Legend (she "did the office and service to receive St. John Baptist when he was born") and more explicitly in the Historia Scholastica ("the Blessed Virgin was the first to lift him up"), Mary was said to be present at the birth of John.

On the eighth day, John was circumcised and Zacharias confirmed in writing Elizabeth's decision to call the boy "Yohanan" (see Naming of John the Baptist). It was at this moment that Zecharias regained his speech.

Whether it happened before or after the birth of John, Mary left before the birth of her son Jesus at Bethlehem. Scripture is silent on the childhood of John and Jesus, but Christian tradition speculated that John and Jesus first met in Jerusalem as babies (many portraits of the Holy Family include John as a child and his mother Elizabeth; see Child John the Baptist with Jesus).

John and Jesus would meet again on the return of the Holy Family from Egypt. John and Jesus are now boys. Here there are two different variants of the story. According to St Peter of Alexandria (3rd cent.), Herod the Great sentenced Zacharias to death for refusing to reveal the whereabouts of the Holy Family, while John and Elizabeth fled into the desert. The most common version however was that John as a boy, after receiving the blessing of his parents, left his house to live alone in the wilderness.

Whatever happened, Christian traditions agreed that John grew up in the wilderness ever since he was a boy. He spent his entire childhood and youth there. There are numerous artistic representation of John as a boy and as a young adult in the desert. See Young John the Baptist in the Desert.

Now an adult, John the Baptist began his public ministery. See Preaching of John the Baptist. He preached to the crowds, baptized the penitent, and confronted the Sadducees and Pharisees. The Baptism of Jesus was a theophany in which his messianic identity was revealed for the first time. John testified of Jesus as the Lamb of God before his disciples; see Here is the Lamb of God.

John rebuked Herod Antipas, questioning the legitimacy of his marriage to Herodias. He was arrested and imprisoned. There he received the visit of his disciples, and sent messengers to Jesus.

It was a complex plot of Herodias, that eventually led to the beheading of John the Baptist, as recounted in the Gospel of Mark and in the Gospel of Matthew; see Death of John the Baptist. Herodias took advantage of the promise of reward that Herod Antipas made to her daughter (Salome) for dancing in his presence at his birthday party. Prompted by her mother, Salome asked for the head of the Baptist. John was beheaded and his head given on a platter to Salome, who presented it to her mother. According to some version Salome also brought it before Herod, in other versions it was a servant who did it.

John's disciples were allowed to take the Baptist's body and buried it.