# St John the Baptist \(detail\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [JACOPO del SELLAIO]() - Date: 1451-1500 - Technique: Tempera on canvas, 157 x 79,5 cm ## Commentary With his grieving, almost beseeching facial expression, his pose half-turned to the spectator, and his rather vague pointing gesture, Sellaio's St John suggests a tragic pathos which is different from the purely intellectual passion, the mystic meditation that seems to permeate the similar figure by Botticelli. In fact the two St Johns assume a different significance in each picture: the figure of Botticelli makes a move toward the Madonna holding her Child who raises his hand in blessing - as if acting as an intermediary between the Virgin and the spectator. Here, on the other hand, he points toward a desiccated tree trunk with the sinister prophecy: "For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees." These ominous words reflect the apocalyptic mood of Florence of the last decade of the 15th century, the premonition of the downfall of the Medicis and the approaching war, which also provided the keynote for Savonarola's preaching. \*\*\* Keywords: \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* Author: JACOPO del SELLAIO Title: St John the Baptist \(detail\) Time-line: 1451-1500 School: Italian Form: painting Type: religious ## Related artworks - [Cassone]() - [Coronation of Esther by Ahasuerus]() - [Esther before Ahasuerus]() - [Madonna and Child with Infant St John the Baptist and Attending Angel]() - [Nativity]() - [Saint John the Baptist]() - [Scenes from the Story of the Argonauts]() - [St Jerome in the Wilderness]() - [St John the Baptist]() - [The Banquet of Ahasuerus]() - [The Banquet of Vashti]() - [The Nerli Cassone]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()