To celebrate the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist I thought I’d share these five beautiful canvases depicting the Saint’s life that were commissioned in Naples from Artemisa Gentileschi and Massimo Stanzione. They were painted for the chapel in the hermitage dedicated to the Baptist in the grounds of the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid.
Artemisia painted The Birth of John the Baptist while Stanzione painted The Birth announced to Zacharias, The Preaching of the Baptist, The Beheading, and Saint John the Baptist leaving his Father’s House. Paolo Finoglio painted a now missing canvas of Saint John in Prison.
As is the case with many of the works commissioned for the new Retiro Palace, important details of these paintings, including their completion date and original location, are subject to controversy. Given the steps taken in commissioning other series of paintings in Naples and Rome during the 1630s for the Retiro, it is likely that the Spanish Viceroy in Naples, the Count of Monterrey (or one of his agents), commissioned Stanzione. The artist delegated one painting to Artemisia and the other to Finoglio. The 1701 Will of the Spanish King Charles II valued Finoglio’s painting at a lower price, indicating that the Madrid court held him in lesser esteem.
The Arts of Golden Age Spain and the Hispanic World 