Domenico Pieratti (1600–1656), The Youthful Saint John the Baptist, Marble, Metropolitan Museum of
Art (New York) ■ As
their patron saint, John the Baptist was a prominent fixture in the homes of
civic-minded Florentines. This large, lyric statuette by Pieratti, the city's
first important Baroque sculptor, shows exacting yet expansive compositional
experimentation. A masterly study in frozen motion, it evinces discerning
responses to lessons learned from great masters. The virile type, an artfully
unkempt boy of the people, is Michelangelesque, with a nod to the head of
David. From Caravaggio comes the adjustment of limbs in angles to maximize
contrasts of light and shadow. Strikingly Caravaggesque is the youth's arm
hooked over his chest, holding a honeycomb (referring to the Baptist's
wilderness diet). His other hand holds the remnants of his shepherd's crook and
a scroll which undoubtedly announced Ecce agnus dei (behold the lamb of God) in
deference to his cousin Jesus. The surface is abraded: the work stood in a
garden around a hundred years ago, but mercifully briefly, not long enough to
diminish its authority and charm ■
