Carlo Crivelli, 'Saint John the Baptist', 1476
About the work
Overview
This striking half-naked figure is Saint John the Baptist. He comes from a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. Crivelli’s attention to detail is such that we can see the sinews and veins of John’s hands and feet, and the individual hairs on his head and on the inside of the skin laced around him.
John stands in wilderness of pink rocks scattered with bare trees. A clear stream flows along the front of the painting, and reeds sprout up along the water’s edge. The barren landscape and the saint’s camel-skin apron allude to the years John spent as a hermit in the desert, punishing his body with uncomfortable clothes and poor food to bring him closer to God.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Saint John the Baptist
- Artist
- Carlo Crivelli
- Artist dates
- about 1430/5 - about 1494
- Part of the group
- The Demidoff Altarpiece
- Date made
- 1476
- Medium and support
- egg tempera on wood
- Dimensions
- 138.5 × 40 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1868
- Inventory number
- NG788.2
- Location
- Room 10
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Part of the Demidoff altarpiece, and very possibly the whole (in a different arrangement ?), was the high altarpiece in San Domenico, Ascoli Piceno; seen there ca. 1724 by Lazzari. In the collection of Padre Ernesto Galanti, Cremona, by 1765; collection of Cardinal Francesco Saverio Zelada, Rome, by at least 1789; it is possible that Cardinal Zelada acquired them through Grossi, who appears to have been a dealer in Rome. They passed later into the Rinuccini Collection, Florence; Catalogo, 1845, Quinta Stanza, pp. 14/5 ; Sale, after the death of the last Rinuccini, Marchese Pietro Francesco, at Palazzo Rinuccini, 1 sqq. May, 1852 (lots 462–470). They were bought by Prince Anatole Demidoff, who had them put together as the principal altarpiece of the Catholic Chapel of his Villa of San Donato, near Florence. Still in the Demidoff Collection in 1866. Purchased from G. H. Phillips, Paris, 1868.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools’, London 1986 and supplemented by Amanda Hilliam, Jonathan Watkins et al., ‘Carlo Crivelli: Shadows on the Sky’, Birmingham 2022; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
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1724D.T. Lazzari, Ascoli in prospettiva: Colle sue più singolari pitture, sculture e architetture, Ascoli 1724
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1766F.A. Marcucci, Saggio delle cose ascolane e de'vescovi di Ascoli nel Piceno dalla fondazione della città sino… all'anno mille settecento sessanta sei, Teramo 1766
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1790B. Orsini, Descrizione delle pitture, sculture, architetture ed altre cose rare della insigne città di Ascoli nella Marca, Perugia 1790
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1822L.A. Lanzi, Storia pittorica della italia dal risorgimento delle belle arti fin presso al fine del XVIII secolo, Florence 1822
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1834A. Ricci, Memorie storiche delle arti e degli artisti della Marca di Ancona, Macerata 1834
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1852Quelques tableaux de la galerie Rinuccini décrits et illustrés, Florence 1852
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1900G.M. Rushforth, Carlo Crivelli, London 1900
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1901A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana, 11 vols, Milan 1901
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1905S. Reinach, Répertoire de peintres du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance (1250-1580), 4 vols, Paris 1905
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1907L. Venturi, Le origini della pittura veneziana 1300-1500, Venice 1907
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1927F. Drey, Carlo Crivelli und seine Schule, Munich 1927
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1932B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works, with an Index of Places, Oxford 1932
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1934L. Serra, L'arte nelle Marche, Pesaro 1934
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1936B. Berenson, Pitture italiane del Rinascimento: Catalogo dei principali artisti e delle loro opere con un indice dei luoghi, Milan 1936
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1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1952P. Zampetti, Carlo Crivelli nelle Marche, Urbino 1952
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1961M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
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1961F. Zeri, 'Cinque schede per Carlo Crivelli', Arte antica e moderna, IV, 1961, pp. 158-76
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1975A. Bovero, L'opera completa del Crivelli, Milan 1975
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1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
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1986P. Zampetti, Carlo Crivelli, Florence 1986
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1991J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
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1992F. Zeri, Giorno per giorno nella pittura: Scritti sull'arte dell'Italia centrale e meridionale dal Trecento al primo Cinquecento, Turin 1992
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1994F. Haskell et al., Anatole Demidoff, Prince of San Donato (1812-70) (exh. cat. Wallace Collection, 10 March - 25 July 1994), London 1994
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1995P. Zampetti, Crivelli, Florence 1995
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1998F. Gennari, 'It will form such an Ornament for Our Gallery': La National Gallery e la pittura de Carlo Crivelli (1856-1868), n.p. 1998
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1998A.C. Tommasi (ed.), Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle: Conoscitore e conservatore: Atti del convegno, Venice 1998
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2002A. De Angelis, 'Francesco Saverio de Zelada (1717-1801)', Ricerche di storia dell'arte, LXXVII, 2002, pp. 41-53
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2004R. Lightbown, Carlo Crivelli, New Haven 2004
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2008R. Duits, Gold Brocade and Renaissance Painting: A Study in Material Culture, London 2008
About this record
If you know more about this work or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
About the group: The Demidoff Altarpiece
Carlo Crivelli, 'The Demidoff Altarpiece', 1476
Overview
Crivelli painted two altarpieces for the small church of San Domenico, in the town of Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. Their history is complex and intertwined. A large, double-tiered polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) sat on the high altar, while a smaller altarpiece was in a side chapel.
In the nineteenth century parts of both altarpieces were sold to a Russian prince, Anatole Demidoff, who mounted them in a grand frame to make a three-tiered altarpiece for the chapel of his villa in Florence. The whole complex is now known as the Demidoff Altarpiece.
The National Gallery bought the Demidoff Altarpiece in 1868, and in 1961 the panels from the smaller polyptych were removed. They are now displayed separately.
Works in the group
The Virgin, crowned and richly dressed as Queen of Heaven, sits on a marble throne. She comes from a polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. A pink watered silk – a cloth of ho...
This striking half-naked figure is Saint John the Baptist. He comes from a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. Crivelli’s attention to detail is such that we can see t...
This stern and commanding figure is Saint Peter, the first pope and one of the founders of the Catholic Church. He comes from a polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. His hooded eyes...
This graceful, golden-haired princess is Saint Catherine of Alexandria, identifiable by her traditional attributes of a spiked wheel and martyr’s palm. She comes from the great polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted for the church of the Dominican Order in Ascoli Piceno in t...
This saintly friar comes from a large polyptych (a many-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of church of San Domenico at Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. This is Saint Dominic himself, holding a white lily to symbolise his chastity and the book of his Rule –...
This praying saint comes from the upper tier of a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. This is Saint Francis, founder of the Franciscan Order – friars who lived in towns...
This bearded saint is one of four in the upper tier of a polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the Dominican Church in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. He is Saint Andrew, the first Apostle, and a particular favourite of the Dominican Ord...
This half-length figure of a saint comes from a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. This is Saint Stephen, Christianity’s first martyr.Potato-like rocks – representing...
This half-length figure of a saint comes from the upper tier of a polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. He is the theologian and Dominican friar Saint Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274)....
More works by Carlo Crivelli
(Showing 6 of 15 works)
This large altarpiece was painted by Carlo Crivelli in 1491 for a family chapel in the Franciscan church in Matelica, a small town in the Italian Marches. The Ottoni were the local ruling family – you can see their coat of arms placed conspicuously on the bottom edge of the main panel.The locatio...
This large panel comes from an altarpiece painted in 1491 by Carlo Crivelli. It was made for the Ottoni family chapel in the Franciscan church at Matelica, in the Italian Marches.The Virgin, to whom the chapel was dedicated, appears crowned as the Queen of Heaven, with the Christ Child on her kne...
This predella (literally ‘platform’ or ’step‘, the bottom tier of an altarpiece) comes from a large altarpiece that Crivelli painted for the Ottoni family chapel in the Franciscan church at Matelica, in the Italian Marches.The scenes reflect the patrons’ different interests – one was a churchman,...
This graceful golden-haired princess comes from a predella, a row of scenes along the base of an altarpiece, or from the frame of an altarpiece. She is Saint Catherine, shown with her traditional attributes of a spiked wheel and a cactus-like martyr’s palm.To show off his skill with foreshortenin...
This bearded cardinal once stood at the left side of a small altarpiece that Crivelli painted for a side chapel in the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. This is Saint Jerome, one of the Fathers of the Church and a favourite saint of the Dominican Order as a defender...
Not on display
This elegant woman is Saint Lucy. She once stood on the Virgin’s left in a small altarpiece which Crivelli painted for a side chapel in the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. Lucy holds her cactus-like martyr’s palm in one hand, and a circular wooden plate in the othe...
This elegant woman is Mary Magdalene, holding the pot of oil with which she anointed Christ’s feet. Although a biblical figure, she is dressed in the height of fifteenth-century fashion. Her red cloak and uncovered hair were meant to hint at the medieval understanding that she ‘gave herself to al...
This panel of the Archangel Michael fighting the Devil was once part of an altarpiece painted by Crivelli for the church of San Domenico in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. Michael is shown as a youthful prince, his sword raised with nonchalant ease to strike the writhing devil beneath his fe...
This priest – whose hair has been shaved, or tonsured – once stood on the right side of a small altarpiece which Crivelli painted for the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno, in the Italian Marche. He is Saint Peter Martyr, the second saint of the Dominican Order, and their first martyr.The...
Not on display
Two saints, Peter and Paul, are deep in conversation over an open book, one pointing out a particular passage to the other. This painting comes from a polyptych – an altarpiece made of a number of panels – painted for the high altar of parish church of Porto San Giorgio, the harbour of the city o...
Not on display
The Archangel Gabriel descends from God to tell the Virgin that she is to bear a child – a moment known as the Annunciation – but has been distracted from his mission by a bishop saint, who has stopped him in the street of a Renaissance town. This is Saint Emidius, patron saint of the town of Asc...
This arched panel was originally the top of a polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted for the Franciscan church at Montefiore dell'Aso near Fermo in the Italian Marches.Two sad, child-like angels hold up Christ’s lifeless body, one nestling his head sorrowfully against Jesu...
Crivelli painted this unusual image of the Virgin standing alone with no Christ Child for the church of San Francesco, Pergola, a little town in the north of the Italian Marche. The Virgin is depicted in a particular role, surrounded by symbols and texts that express the idea that she was conceiv...
Not on display
This painting, showing the Virgin and Child enthroned between Saints Francis and Sebastian, was the central panel of an altarpiece made for a family chapel in the Franciscan church at Fabriano, in the Italian Marches. At Francis’s foot, a stout little figure in widow’s dress is being presented to...
This tall, narrow panel once hung over the tomb of a Franciscan holy man, the Blessed Gabriele Ferretti (d. 1456). Gabriele was Superior of the small convent of San Francesco in Alto outside Ancona in the Italian Marche. He was famous locally for his fervent piety and for his visions of the Virgi...
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