Workshop of Marcello Venusti, Saint John the Baptist, 1600, Oil on Canvas

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Description

Marcello Venusti (Mazzo di Valtellina 1510 - Rome 1579) workshop/circle

Saint John the Baptist

Oil on canvas (65 x 50 … Read more Marcello Venusti (Mazzo di Valtellina 1510 - Rome 1579) workshop/circle

Saint John the Baptist

Oil on canvas (65 x 50 cm / Framed 74 x 58 cm)

The work depicts a full-length Saint John the Baptist meditating in the desert. He is depicted with understated elegance, seated in his typical contemplative pose with his index finger pointing heavenward, his gaze directed at the viewer, and in one hand he holds the traditional cross-shaped staff, alluding to Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

Characterized by a simplicity that enhances the spiritual purity of the subject, the Saint is wrapped in a simple, bright red cloak, symbolizing the abandonment of material things and the connection with the divine dimension. The bare, arid environment surrounding him represents solitude and sacrifice, central elements in the saint's life.

The depiction conveys a profound spirituality, typical of the iconographic canons required in the 16th century, and can be traced back to a painter still active in this century, or at least the beginning of the next, close to Marcello Venusti (1510–1579), a painter of Lombard origin who worked for much of his prolific career in Rome, whose workshop received numerous commissions with similar subjects.

Venusti arrived in the Eternal City around 1545, thanks to the support of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, and worked first on Perin del Vaga's construction sites in Castel Sant'Angelo and later alongside Michelangelo in the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican.

The work is a version, created for domestic devotion and therefore smaller in scale, of the altarpiece commissioned from Marcello Venusti for the church of Santa Caterina dei Funari in Rome.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Good condition, complete with gilded frame (not contemporary with the painting).

The work is sold complete with a certificate of authenticity and an iconographic . This piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



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