Saint John the Baptist Entering the Wilderness
Giovanni di Paolo·1455–60
Historical Context
Saint John the Baptist Entering the Wilderness (1455–60) is one of the most celebrated panels from Giovanni di Paolo's predella cycle illustrating the Baptist's life. The young saint's solitary departure into a fantastic, unnaturally colored landscape is one of the most inventive compositions in Sienese painting — rolling hills, unearthly rock formations, and a tiny city disappearing behind the saint create a dreamlike image of spiritual withdrawal. Giovanni di Paolo was the leading Sienese painter of the mid-fifteenth century, consciously maintaining the expressive emotional tradition of Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti against the newer naturalism coming from Florence.
Technical Analysis
The extraordinary landscape with its undulating hills and jewel-toned colors demonstrates Giovanni di Paolo's imaginative approach to natural settings. The tempera technique achieves rich, saturated hues — deep greens, blues, and earth tones — while the miniaturist precision of the tiny saint against the vast landscape creates a powerful sense of spiritual solitude.
Provenance
Edourd Aynard, Lyons, by 1907 [see Perkins 1907]; sold Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, December 1–4, 1913 no. 51, to Kleinberger, Paris, as agent for Martin A. Ryerson (died 1932), Chicago, 1914 [an entry for June 18, 1914, in Ryerson’s notebook reads: “Bot [sic] of Kleinberter, Paris, 6 panels by Giovanni di Paolo (purchased by him at Aynard sale for 160 000 fr + 10%);” Art Institute Archives]; on loan to the Art Institute from 1914; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1933.
