Saint John the Baptist Preaching in the Desert
Jean Baptiste Henri Deshays
1758–1764
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 42.2 × 26.5 cm (16 5/8 × 10 7/16 in.); Framed: 59.4 × 44.3 × 7.4 cm (23 3/8 × 17 7/16 × 2 7/8 in.)
- Genre
- oil on canvas
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
religionoil paintings (visual works)paintingfrancepaintcanvasoil on canvasfrenchanimalsdesertsoil paint (paint)painting (image making)painting techniquespeoplereligious scenesfiguresSaintsChristian subjectsreligiouswomenAngelsbiblicalPuttioil paintingeuropean paintingChristianity18th CenturySaint John the Baptist
About
A precocious talent, Jean-Baptiste Deshays married Rococo artist François Boucher’s daughter and became his father-in-law’s protégé. Although best known as a painter of religious subjects, Deshays often employed the soft, highly fluid manner that Boucher used for his amorous “boudoir” pictures. In fact, this work was for a long time believed to be by Boucher. The subject of the painting derives from the Gospel of Matthew: Seated before the multitude with his arms dramatically outstretched, John the Baptist warns, “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”