John the Baptist

Removed from the narrative of the Gospel, the youthful St. John is depicted as a man “crying the wilderness” and calling on the faithful to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. In this picture painted for Emperor Ferdinand III, Guercino has found a particularly clear solution from a formal point of view. In contrast to his early works, he has clearly outlined the figure, making it comprehensible, monumental and symmetrical.