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Studies of Saint John the Baptist

after 1455
Not on view
This highly accomplished sheet of studies in metalpoint is actually a record of a painting rather than a study for one. The bust-length profile of Saint John the Baptist and adjacent studies of legs correspond exactly to the figure of Saint John baptizing Christ in the central panel of a triptych by Rogier van der Weyden, Scenes from the Life of Saint John the Baptist (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin). The technique of using careful crosshatching and controlled contour lines, sometime softened by hatchmarks, relates to metalpoint drawings attributed to Rogier. Moreover, the drawing reflects such a thorough understanding of his idiosyncrasies that one might attribute the sheet to some gifted artist working directly after the Berlin triptych was completed (following 1445).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Studies of Saint John the Baptist
  • Artist: Copy after Rogier van der Weyden (Tournai, 1399–Brussels, 1464)
  • Date: after 1455
  • Culture: Flemish
  • Medium: Metalpoint on gray prepared paper
  • Dimensions: 4 5/8 x 7 1/8 in. (11.8 x 18.1 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.847
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

More Artwork

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Three Virtues (Temperance, Hope, and Fortitude or Justice) and Studies of a Seated Man, Lorenzo Monaco (Piero di Giovanni) Italian, Metalpoint, touches of brush and brown wash, heightened with white (partially oxidized in the figure at the lower left), on reddish violet prepared paper. Some lines retraced in pen and brown ink at a later date., Italian, Florence
Three Virtues (Temperance, Hope, and Fortitude or Justice) and Studies of a Seated Man
Lorenzo Monaco (Piero di Giovanni)
ca. 1420
A Bear Walking, Leonardo da Vinci Italian, silverpoint on light buff prepared paper
A Bear Walking
Leonardo da Vinci
ca. 1482–85
Head of a Young Woman, Albrecht Dürer German, Black chalk highlighted with white chalk (abraded) on green prepared paper.
Head of a Young Woman
Albrecht Dürer
1522
The Martyrdom of Saint Paul, Taddeo Zuccaro Italian, Pen and brown and gray ink, brown wash, over black chalk, heightened with white, on buff paper.
The Martyrdom of Saint Paul
Taddeo Zuccaro
ca. 1557–58
Bust of a Man in a Hat Gazing Upward, Martin Schongauer German, Pen and carbon black ink, over pen and brown ink, on paper prepared with sanguine wash.
Bust of a Man in a Hat Gazing Upward
Martin Schongauer
ca. 1480–90

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