Florentine School, 17th Century, San Giovanni Battista

Florentine school, 17th century
San Giovanni Battista
Oil on canvas, diam. cm 20 - with frame diam. 30
In this small round-format canvas, Saint John the Baptist is represented in half-bust with his typical childish iconography, dressed in poor clothes made of dear skin and a scarlet cloak. The Young looks at us, showing the stick on which is tied the cartouche with the traditional inscription: "Ecce Agnus Dei", the phrase pronounced when he saw Jesus for the first time. The iconography of the Young John the Baptist in the desert, often accompanied by a Lamb, was born in the post-Tridentine period deriving from the invention of the artists of the Italian Renaissance of the episode of Saint John and the child Jesus playing together. The gesture of the outstretched arm with the finger upwards serves to indicate the one to be followed, that is to say, Christ.