# Saint John the Baptist in Prison Visited by Two Disciples

- By: Giovanni di Paolo (Italian, 1398–1482)
- Date: 1455–60
- Medium: Tempera on panel
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 68.3 × 40 cm (26 7/8 × 15 3/4 in.); Framed: 79.6 × 51.5 × 7.7 cm (31 3/8 × 20 1/4 × 3 in.)
- Culture: Italy
- Credit line: Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/16162)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/a00ae7be-c958-d09c-73af-26e0e4199648/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This series of panels illustrates scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist, a prophet who foretold Jesus’s arrival as the Christian savior. The Art Institute’s collection includes six panels that were originally part of a group of 12 that possibly formed the doors of a reliquary shrine to the saint.

The narrative begins as John leaves civilization, entering the wilderness to become a hermit. In a following scene, John wears a hair shirt, a coarse undergarment symbolizing his ascetic life, as he announces that Jesus is the savior prophesied as the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God. Subsequent panels show John’s imprisonment and violent execution at the hands of Herod, ruler of Galilee. Giovanni di Paolo related the Baptist’s complex biography with expressive figures represented multiple times to indicate their movement through highly imaginative and stylized settings.olo&artist_ids=Giovanni+di+Paolo">six paintings illustrating scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist, a prophet considered a forerunner of Jesus. They were originally part of a group of 12 that possibly formed the doors of a reliquary shrine to the saint. The first painting depicts John twice, leaving…

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0