Saint John the Baptist

This section of an altarpiece showing Saint John the Baptist is probably a comparatively early work by Schiavone. It is thought to come from S. Niccolò, Padua.

John was the prophet who preached the coming of Christ as the Messiah. He was related to Jesus through his mother Saint Elizabeth, cousin of the Virgin Mary.

John preached in the desert, and performed baptisms in the river Jordan for those who repented their sins. It is here that Jesus came to be baptised, and was revealed as the Son of God; this was the most important act of John's life.

John lived as a hermit and he is typically shown with a hermit's staff, a scroll and dressed in animal skins.