The Head of St John the Baptist (Bellini)

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Head of St. John the Baptist
Giovanni bellini, testa di san giovanni battista.jpg
Artist Giovanni Bellini
Year1465–1470
Medium Tempera on panel
Dimensions28 cm diameter (11 in)
LocationCivic Museum, Pesaro

The head of St. John the Baptist is a tondo painting by the Italian Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini. [1] It is now housed in the Civic Museum of Pesaro.

The painting depicts the head of the St. John the Baptist just after his decapitation, with blood still dripping from the neck. The perspective from below show the influence of the treatises about perspective representation of the human figure which were being published at the time, such as Piero della Francesca's De prospectiva pingendi .

Stylistically, the brilliant colors and the dramatic painting are similar to those of St. Vincent Ferrer Polyptych, the first mature work by Bellini, dated to after 1464. [2]

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References

  1. L'opera era già stata oggetto di dibattito con l'assegnazione ai due pittori dopo la prima attribuzione allo Zoppo da parte di Adolfo Venturi (
    Pignatti 1969
    p. 91.
    ); dopo una prevalente attribuzione a Bellini la critica più recente pare più propensa verso lo Zoppo (
    Regione Marche
    ). Non viene consideratanel Catalogo ragionato dove incidentalmente viene considerata come assodata l'ipotesi dello Zoppo (
    Lucco 2019
    p. 327.
    )
  2. Tempestini 2000
    pp. 47,
    187.

Sources