GIULIO ROMANO ST JOHN THE BAPTIST IN THE WILDERNESS Since entering the catalogue of the Princely Collections in 1767, "St John the Baptist in the Wilderness" has traditionally been attributed to Giulio Romano. The painting is largely identical to the work of the same name in the Tribuna of the Uffizi in Florence, which is usually attributed to Raphael. St John the Baptist sits on a stony outcrop of a grotto-like rock formation that forms a dark background for his brilliantly lit figure. A leopard skin is slung round his body, revealing more than it conceals. He is pointing with his raised right hand to a wooden cross from which a supernatural light emanates. The spring rising close by can be read as a symbol both of baptism and of the purity of faith. Beams of light issue from the cross, the “light that shines in the darkness” (John 1,5), as mentioned in the Gospel according to St John. The emphatically naked, athletic body and the heroic pose bestow on the saint the appearance of a worldly hero. Giulio Romano St John the Baptist in the Wilderness Oil on panel height 178 cm, width 154 cm Inv.-No. GE22 Provenance: 1712 first recorded in the collection in Prince Johann Adam Andreas I’s estate inventory On display in Gallery V, Rivalry between the North and South: Late Gothic and Renaissance Portraiture		New acquisitions >>