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The head and shoulders of a young boy with short, curly hair is carved from cream-white marble in this free-standing sculpture. In this photograph, his shoulders are squared to us, and he looks down and to our right. He has delicate features and smooth skin. Fabric wraps around one shoulder and across his chest, and a wide strip like animal fur goes over the other shoulder, to our right. The sculpture is cut straight across the chest just below the shoulders, and it sits in front of a background that lightens from smoke gray along the top to nearly white along the bottom.

Antonio Rossellino

The Young Saint John the Baptist, c. 1470

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 6

Medium

marble

Dimensions

overall: 34.7 x 29.8 x 16.1 cm (13 11/16 x 11 3/4 x 6 5/16 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1943.4.79

Artists / Makers

Antonio Rossellino (artist) Florentine, 1427 - 1479

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Overview

Like Desiderio, Antonio Rossellino probably came from Settignano. He was the most accomplished sculptor among five brothers, all trained in the important workshop led by the eldest brother Bernardo. Widespread admiration for Antonio's skill may explain why his nickname Rossellino, "little redhead," came to be attached to all his brothers, replacing the family name Gambarelli.

John the Baptist, portrayed by Antonio in this graceful bust, was a patron saint of the city of Florence and a favorite figure in Florentine painting and sculpture. The Florentine theologian, Cardinal Giovanni Dominici, recommended around 1410 that parents display images of the Christ Child and the young John together in their homes, as religious and moral examples for their children. When it was first made, this bust may have served just such a purpose in a Florentine home. But for at least the 180 years before 1940, it was in a Florentine religious building, the oratory of San Francesco of the Vanchettoni, together with Desiderio da Settignano's bust of the Christ Child, now exhibited in the same gallery. The Desiderio boy is considerably younger, with plump cheeks and silky hair; Rossellino's John is close to adolescence. His richly waving curls and the fine curving lines of his lips suggest the beauty of a young classical god.

Provenance

Oratory of S. Francesco dei Vanchettoni, Florence, before 1756;[1] sold 1940 to Eugenio Venturi, Florence, probably for (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[2] purchased 1942 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1943 to NGA.

[1] Giuseppe Richa, Notizie storiche delle chiese fiorentine, 10 vols., Florence, 1754-1762: 4(1756):92, as by Donatello. This bust and the bust The Christ Child (?) (NGA 1943.4.94) were each placed in a niche above a side door on either side of the high altar. The doors both led into the "Relic Room." The busts were seen there and listed as by Donatello in numerous Florence guidebooks until they were sold.

[2] Walter Paatz, Die Kirchen von Florenz: Ein Kunstgeschichtliches Handbuch, 6 vols., Frankfurt, 1940: 2:137, no.16.

[3] Documents from the Kress Foundation, now in NGA curatorial files, indicate that the Foundation was considering the acquisition of the sculpture as early as 1940.

Associated Names

Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Oratory of S. Francesco dei Vanchettoni
Venturi, Eugenio

Exhibition History

1985: Italian Renaissance Sculpture in the Time of Donatello, Detroit Institute of Arts; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas; Forte Belvedere, Florence, Italy, 1985-1986, no. 56 (English cat.), no. 93 (Italian cat.), repro.

2018: The Sculpture of Giovan Angelo Montorsorli and his Circle: Myth and Faith in Renaissance Florence, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire, 2018-2019.

Bibliography

1943: Swarzenski, Georg. "Some Aspects of Italian Quattrocento Sculpture in the National Gallery." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th series, 24 (November 1943): 290 fig. 6, 292.

1944: Duveen Brothers, Inc. Duveen Sculpture in Public Collections of America: A Catalog Raisonné with illustrations of Italian Renaissance Sculptures by the Great Masters which have passed through the House of Duveen. New York, 1944: figs. 102-104.

1945: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 179, repro., as Saint John the Baptist.

1949: Seymour, Charles. Masterpieces of Sculpture from the National Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1949: 176, note 21, repro. 80-81.

1957: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 67.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 400, repro.

1961: Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 39, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 170.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 150, repro.

1976: Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 23.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 626, no. 968, repro.

1992: National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 287, repro.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 212, repro.

1997: Fulton, Christopher. "The Boy Stripped Bare by His Elders: Art and Adolescence in Renaissance Florence." Art Journal 56, 2 (Summer 1997): 32, fig. 2.

2000: National Gallery of Art Special Issue. Connaissance des Arts. Paris, 2000:59.

2007: Pisani, Linda. "San Giovannino Battista nei busti del Rinascimento Florentino." In Jeanette Kohl and Rebecca Müller, eds. Kopf/Bild: Die Büste in Mittelalter und Frïher Neuzeit. (I Mandorli 6) Munich and Berlin, 2007: 221, 231, no. 7.

2013: Langhanke, Birgit. Die Madonnenreliefs im Werk von Antonio Rossellino. Ph.D. diss. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, 2013: 99, n. 80.