Saint John the Baptist (c. 1500): Art, History and Details

Saint John the Baptist (c. 1500) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jan Crocq (Netherlandish, act. 1486–1510).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

John the Baptist was one of the most beloved and widely venerated saints of the Middle Ages. He is depicted here wearing his traditional camel hair fleece beneath a luxuriant outer mantle. The sculpture is attributed to Jan Crocq, a Netherlandish artist active at the court of René II, Duke of Lorraine at Nancy from 1486 to 1510, and noted for his naturalistic treatment of hair and costume.

Object facts

• Title: Saint John the Baptist
• Date: c. 1500
• Creator attribution: Jan Crocq (Netherlandish, act. 1486–1510)
• Culture: French, Lorraine, Nancy or Bar-le-Duc
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Tonnerre limestone
• Dimensions: Overall: 163 x 59 x 40 cm (64 3/16 x 23 1/4 x 15 3/4 in.)
• Collection: MED - Gothic
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 2017.54

A detail from the museum

St. John the Baptist holds a book and a lamb, referencing his description of Christ as "the lamb of God."

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Saunier, Charles, "Collection François Flameng" Les Arts. no. 164 (1918).
• Galerie Georges Petit. Tableaux anciens et modernes; pastels; oeuvres de Ter Borch, J. Boze, J.B.S. Chardin, F. Clouet, Corneille de Lyon, Le Corrège, A.V. Dyck, Guardi, La Tour, Perronneau, Raphael, Rembrandt, Tiepolo, le Tintoret, Vélasquez, etc., etc. 1919.
• William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts. Handbook of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art. Kansas City, Mo: [The Joseph D. Havens Co.], 1933.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.