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Saint John the Baptist

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Saint John the Baptist, dressed in a hair shirt and a purple mantle, holds his attribute of a lamb. This refined painting was originally the left wing of a small triptych (an image made up of three parts). The central panel, which shows the Virgin and Child, is now in the Uffizi, Florence while the right wing is also in the National Gallery’s collection. Hans Memling frequently recycled ideas and he reused many of his workshop patterns in this triptych: similar Baptists appear in a number of his other paintings.

On the reverse of this panel four cranes stand in a dark landscape, the sun probably rising over the trees behind them. One at the front holds a stone in his claw. The vigilant crane was the emblem of the bishop and astrologer Benedetto Pagagnotti, the first owner of the triptych, whose coat of arms hangs on a tree behind.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Saint John the Baptist

Date

about 1480

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 57.5 x W 17.3 cm

Accession number

NG747.1

Acquisition method

Bought, 1865

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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