Holy Prophet and Forerunner John the Baptist - the Angel of the desert Painting

Painting: Egg Tempera, Canvas (“Pavoloka”), Gesso (“levkas”) on Wood, Cut-back centre portion, Gilding. John the Baptist is the last Old Testament prophet who introduced Jesus Christ as the Savior to the people of Israel. His other name – John the Forerunner – is meant to emphasize his specific role as forerunner or precursor of Jesus Christ. The narratives of his life and ministry are contained in a number of sources – in the four canonic gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, Flavius Josephus and early Christian apocripha. The Gospel according to Luke contains an account of John the Baptist’s infancy: “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.”(Luke 1: 80). Yet the Evangelists say nothing about how he found himself in the desert and what had happened with his parents. The apocryphal tradition connects the living of John the Baptist with the massacre of the innocents by King Herod. Other synoptic Evangelists report that John the Baptist performed his ministry in the “Desert of Judea”. (Matthew 3: 1) and near the river Jordan (Matthew 3: 5–6; Mark 1: 5). The Evangelists Matthew and Mark pay special attention to the clothes worn by John the Baptist and his way of life. He wore “raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey” and lived on locusts and wild honey. The circumstances of John’s ministry were represented in the saint’s iconography. The first Christian images of John the Baptist appeared in the early Christian art, in the compositions of the Baptism of Christ; the earliest of surviving images of John the Baptist is located in the Catacombs of San Callista (the first half of the 3rd century AD). John the Baptist was depicted as a middle-aged man with long wavy hair and a beard, in a haircloth, putting his right hand on Jesus Christ’s head and holding a scroll (or a staff crowned with a cross) with his left hand. This is how John the Baptist is represented on the so-called Arles sarcophagus (4th century AD, Musée de l'Arles Antique) and on the mosaics of the Arian Baptistry in Ravenna (the mid-5th century) and others. The exceptional veneration of John the Baptist in the Christian countries affected the development of comprehensive and diverse iconography of the saint. The mid-Byzantine images of John the Baptist emphasized the saint’s ascetic life. The feast day of John the Baptist is celebrated several times and is associated with different episodes from his life and veneration. July 7th (June 24th , the old style) – the Nativity of John the Baptist; September 11 (August 29th, the old style) – the Beheading of John the Baptist; October 6 (September 23rd, the old style) – the Conception of John the Baptist; January 20th (January 7th, the old style) – the Synaxis of John the Baptist; March 9th (February 24th, the old style) and June 7th (May 25th, the old style) – the Finding of John the Baptist’s Head. Holy John the Baptist also known as John the Baptizer. The half-length figure of Holy John the Baptist shown as a winged angel. In his left hand he holds a folded scroll and a stick (a thin baton/the holy spear), his right arm is raised in a gesture of blessing. Holy John the Baptist is depicted as Angel of the Desert. The Angel with raised fiery red-golden wings is shown full-face. Angels’ wings is represented three-dimensionally and with the rolled edges. He holds a folded scroll symbolizing his call for penance, prophesy of the nearing Judgment Day and the Kingdom of Heaven. A half-length image. Holy John the Baptist is shown as a hermit wearing a camel skin (camel's hair) under himation. John is shown wearing a buffy olive-green milot (a mantle/a robe/ a cloak) and dark-green, almost emerald, chiton (shirt/tunic). The decoration of clothes looks so lifelike that one can almost feel the camel skin (camel's hair), this impression being achieved through horizontal and golden hatching. The white pigments can be seen on the clothes. Holy John the Baptist is represented as a middle-aged man with the ascetic features of the face. In the facial painting one can observe a certain contrast between dark sankir preparation and the whites highlighting cheeks, nose, forehead and clearly visible rouge. Due to thick and opaque coating of paint the color scheme looks intensive with brownish-ochre tones and complex shades of red prevailing in the color palette. The volumes are modeled, to a large extent, by color highlights while gold is more perceived as paint. The ascetic and austere image of Holy John the Baptist is distinguished by the unusually elongated and symmetrical contours, a long and thin nose, high cheekbones, a motionless look of big eyes, raised eyebrows and a narrow forehead. Holy John the Baptist is portrayed from the waist down with loose hair, wearing clothes. The face of the winged angel with a narrow forehead and the deep set eyes is framed by the red hair and the medium beard. The silhouette of the figure is exquisite, the colors are pure but diluted by the light reduced ochres. The face is painted graphically and is covered with the intense highlights. The icon background is golden-colored (dark ochre); the image is cased in small cinnabar/vermilion and black frame. The icon depicts the angel’s face against a dark ochre background, with a golden halo. Angel’s look is directed to the viewers. Angel’s hair is divided into a few long wavy locks; the lock is slightly split at the end; a medium beard is divided into multiple wavy locks. Holy John the Baptist is portrayed with bushy hair and a beard, austere dark face. This type of face was particularly widespread in the Russian icon-painting. While the icon is medium in size, the angel’s image looks majestic. The winged angel slim elongated half-figure has classic outlines. In the delicate harmony of this work and meditative face with fine feature and narrow forehead one can find the influence of the style of old icon-painter masters. The icon has some properties distinguishing. Among them is the coldish palette, with prevailing thick and saturated emerald-green, olive-green and golden-brown shades on a dark ochre background; dark shaded face, contrast modeling of clothes with broad color highlights, expressive contours emphasizing heavy folds, three-dimensional figure and their free positioning in the space. The winged angel is represented as a middle-aged man with the striking features of the face, red-haired (sandy hair/auburn hair), long-bearded and a nice, straight nose. The face of the Angel is noted for the profound and contemplative expression. The long red hair is divided on either side into a few strands. The face of the winged angel is painted in brown ochre with whitewash highlights and cinnabar contours of the lips. The winged angel is good-looking, handsome, fabulous and attractive men. Pink ochre, the background is covered with liquid ochre. The image is noted for internal expression, the bright and sparkling with color highlights clothes of the winged angel, slim proportions and bright colors. The gold halo adjoins the icon upper edge border. The halo is golden with red outlines. Angel’s big brown eyes are looking straight ahead, his eyebrows are raised. The hair is wavy and brown, hair locks are highlighted in black and golden lines. The medium brown beard and long mustaches are drawn in thin black and goldenlines. Smooth lines and exquisite color scheme convey an ideal image of the winged angel. The icon is painted graphically, its color and silhouette of the figure are quite exquisite. The painting is noted for dominant dark golden ochre colors. On the bottom margin carries the descriptive text in the old Slavanic language.

Painting:Tempera on Wood

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:11 W x 14 H x 1 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.