Saint John the Baptist - New York City, NY
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Metro2
N 40° 46.762 W 073° 57.762
18T E 587529 N 4514782
This sculpture is located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Waymark Code: WMNVVB
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 05/08/2015
Views: 4
The Museum's website (
visit link) provides the information about this sculpture:
"St. John the Baptist
Artist: Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon)
Date: modeled 1878, cast possibly 1888
Culture: French
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: H. 21-3/8 in. (54.3 cm.); W. 15-3/4 in. (40.0 cm.); D. 11 in. (27.9 cm.)
Classification: Sculpture-Bronze
Credit Line: Gift of Samuel P. Avery, 1893
Accession Number: 93.11
On view in Gallery 800
Derived from the full, larger than lifesize Saint John the Baptist Preaching almost immediately after its creation in 1878, the bust was first exhibited as an independent work in the Paris Salon of 1879. This exceptionally fine cast is probably the one referred to in 1889 as the "first bronze duplicate...sold in France [and] bought by Mr. George A. Lucas.""
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"John the Baptist ... was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure in Christianity, Islam (known as Ya?ya ibn Zakariya), the Bahá'í Faith, and Mandaeism.
John is described as having the unique practice of baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Most scholars agree that John baptized Jesus. Scholars generally believe Jesus was a follower or disciple of John and several New Testament accounts report that some of Jesus' early followers had previously been followers of John. John the Baptist is also mentioned by Jewish historian Josephus. Some scholars maintain that John was influenced by the semi-ascetic Essenes, who expected an apocalypse and practiced rituals corresponding strongly with baptism, although no direct evidence substantiates this.
According to the New Testament, John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself, and Jesus was the one whose coming John foretold. Christians commonly refer to John as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus, since John announces Jesus' coming. John is also identified with the prophet Elijah."