# St John in the Wilderness \(Bacchus\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [LEONARDO da Vinci]() - Date: 1451-1500 - Technique: Oil on panel transferred to canvas, 177 x 115 cm ## Commentary The Baptist, crowned with a laurel wreath, wearing a fur garment and carrying a staff, is with his left hand possibly pointing to a spring and holding a bunch of grapes. The fur and staff can be interpreted as attributes of the Baptist, and the fruit and laurel wreath as ones belonging to the classical god of wine. Given the poor state of preservation of the work, it is difficult to decide whether the laurel wreath and grapes were actually part of the original composition. There is at any rate a text that equates St John with Bacchus: the "Ovide moralise" by Pierre Bersuire, dating from the 14th century. A design for the painting shows the naked St John, though without the attributes of Bacchus. This painting was presumably produced by one of Leonardo's pupil \(probably Francesco Melzi\) in Leonardo's workshop after a drawing attributed to the master, dating from 1510-15. ## Related artworks - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Allegory with wolf and eagle]() - [Anatomical studies \(larynx and leg\)]() - [Anatomical studies of a male shoulder]() - [Anatomical studies of the shoulder]() - [Anatomical studies]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()