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Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Adam Elsheimer (German, 1578–1610)
c. 1605
- Medium
- Oil on copper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 21 × 16.3 cm (8 1/4 × 6 3/8 in.); Framed: 33 × 26.7 × 2.5 cm (13 × 10 1/2 × 1 in.)
- Culture
- Germany
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Lacy Armour Fund, Chester D. Tripp Estate Fund, European Painting General Sales Proceeds, Mrs. Albert Beveridge Fund, Rhoades Foundation
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Adam Elsheimer’s small paintings on copper show his remarkable ability to create imaginary, highly composed landscapes. On his arrival in Rome in 1600, Elsheimer was inspired by the city’s antique monuments and its extraordinary artistic environment. In this work, the wooded landscape teeming with wildlife is indebted to painting from Northern Europe, while the youthful saint echoes ancient Greek and Roman sculpture in a pose that reveals both his active mind and his physical strength. Though Elsheimer died in Rome at a relatively young age, his painting profoundly influenced his fellow artists, including Peter Paul Rubens.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
