After Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Saint John the Baptist, The Good Shepherd, 19th Century, Oil on Canvas

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"Saint John the Baptist, the Good Shepherd," after Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish School, 19th century – Spain

Spectacular oil on … Read more "Saint John the Baptist, the Good Shepherd," after Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish School, 19th century – Spain

Spectacular oil on canvas of "Saint John the Baptist, the Good Shepherd," dated 1830 and signed with the initials J.M.A. on the reverse. In the foreground, Saint John the Baptist, seated on some rocks, gazes directly at the viewer while caressing a lamb at his feet. The boy wears typical clothing of the period: shorts, a long-sleeved shirt, a vest, and high boots, along with a wide-brimmed hat and a shepherd's staff. In the background, a natural landscape with trees and a small river. The boy's relaxed posture, his simple clothing, the pastoral landscape, and the sheep are elements that highlight the purity and simplicity characteristic of the representation of Saint John the Baptist in the Christian tradition. The work also reflects the idealization of the child as a "good shepherd," a theme associated with the representation of Jesus and saints in Baroque religious painting. The theme was very popular during the Baroque period and finds its source in a passage from the Gospel of Saint Luke.

This type of painting was very common during the 19th century, when artists of the Spanish School followed in the footsteps of the great masters of the Golden Age. In this case, the work follows the aesthetic precepts of the painting of the master Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, specifically "Saint John the Baptist with a Lamb" (1660), a work currently housed in the National Gallery in London, and "Saint John the Baptist as a Child," in the Prado Museum. Murillo is especially recognized for his idealized representation of the human figure and the simplicity of his religious scenes, blending gentle content while simultaneously appealing to the most sensitive side of the faithful, with a refined painting technique that combines compositional features of Italian origin with a powerful sense of color that reveals influences of Flemish masters such as Rubens and Van Dyck.

In this canvas, the painter constructs a tender image of the young Saint John the Baptist, whose sweetness and innocence contrast with the dramatic symbolism underlying the image. The tender lamb that accompanies him directly alludes to the bloody sacrifice of Christ and symbolizes his own martyrdom. This type of childlike image, with its dramatic content yet sweet and moving appearance, designed precisely to stir the soul of the faithful who pray before it, was very common in the Spanish Baroque. Its most frequent form was that of the Child with the symbols of the Passion, casting the shadow of the cross upon the innocent childhood of Jesus. It is especially in the art of the Counter-Reformation that this funereal premonition of the Passion is expressed through transparent allusions.

Technique: Oil on canvas
Title of the work: “Saint John the Baptist, the Good Shepherd”
Artist: Spanish School, signed J.M.A., 1830 on the reverse
Style: Following Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Period: 19th Century
Good condition for its age and use / Shows overpainting and patches on the reverse
Overall dimensions: 100 x 80 cm
Dimensions without frame: 93 x 73 cm

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