The Head of St John the Baptist (Bellini)

Head of St. John the Baptist

Artist	Giovanni Bellini
Year	1465–1470
Medium	Tempera on panel
Dimensions	28 cm diameter (11 in)
Location	Civic 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]

References

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^ 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 (Bellini, Ghiotto & 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)
^ Anchise Tempestini (2000), Giovanni Bellini, Milano: Electa, pp. 47, 187

Sources

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De Vecchi, Pierluigi; Elda Cerchiari (1999). I tempi dell'arte. Vol. 2. Milan: Bompiani. ISBN 88-451-7212-0.
Bellini, Giovanni; Ghiotto, Renato; Pignatti, Terisio (1969). Giovanni Bellini: l'opera completa. Classici dell'arte (in Italian). Milano: Rizzoli. OCLC 1091966285.
Lucco, Mauro (2019). Giovanni Bellini: catalogo ragionato (in Italian). Ponzano Veneto: ZeL edizioni. ISBN 978-88-87186-81-9.
"Testa di san Giovanni Battista". Cultura. Regione Marche (in Italian). Retrieved 22 August 2022.

v t e Giovanni Bellini
List of works
Paintings	St. Jerome in the Desert (Birmingham) Madonna and Child (Pavia) Transfiguration (Venice) Pietà (Bergamo) Crucifixion Pietà (Milan) Agony in the Garden Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels Presentation at the Temple Christ Blessing (Paris) Frizzoni Madonna Madonna and Child Blessing The Blood of the Redeemer Madonna and Child (Milan, 1460–1465) Greek Madonna Nativity Triptych Saint Vincent Ferrer Altarpiece San Lorenzo Triptych San Sebastiano Triptych Triptych of the Madonna The Head of St John the Baptist Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels (Berlin) Dead Christ Supported by Angels (Rimini) The Dead Christ Supported by the Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist Lehman Madonna Pesaro Altarpiece Portrait of Georg Fugger Lochis Madonna Madonna and Child (Verona) Enthroned Madonna Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child Madonna and Child (Venice, 1475) Madonna Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child St. Francis in Ecstasy Contarini Madonna Resurrection of Christ Portrait of a Humanist Transfiguration of Christ (Naples) Willys Madonna St. Jerome in the Desert (Florence) Saint Jerome Reading in a Landscape Alzano Madonna Madonna of the Red Cherubim Madonna and Child (New York, late 1480s) San Giobbe Altarpiece Madonna and Child with Saint Peter and Saint Sebastian Madonna of the Small Trees Barbarigo Altarpiece Frari Triptych Madonna and Child with Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Ursula Portrait of a Young Man in Red Madonna and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist Portrait of a Young Man (Paris) Holy Allegory Portrait of a Young Senator Allegories Portrait of a Condottiero Annunciation Christ Blessing (Fort Worth) Circumcision of Christ* Lamentation over the Dead Christ (Florence) Portrait of a Young Man (Washington) Self-Portrait Portrait of a Young Man (Liverpool) Baptism of Christ Head of the Redeemer Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and a Female Saint Martinengo Pietà Portrait of a Young Man (Royal Collection) St. Jerome in the Desert (Washington) San Zaccaria Altarpiece Madonna del Prato Portrait of the Loredan Family The Infant Bacchus Sacred Conversation (Madrid) St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria The Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr Madonna and Child with Four Saints and Donor The Continence of Scipio Madonna and Child (Detroit) Madonna and Child (Rome) Madonna and Child (Milan, 1510) Virgin in Glory with Saints Saints Christopher, Jerome and Louis of Toulouse The Feast of the Gods Drunkenness of Noah Naked Young Woman in Front of a Mirror Portrait of Fra Teodoro of Urbino as Saint Dominic Deposition
Other	Martyrdom of Saint Maurice and his Comrades (illuminated manuscript; attributed)
Related	San Zaccaria, Venice (1995 photograph) Venetian Renaissance
Family	Jacopo Bellini (father) Gentile Bellini (brother) Andrea Mantegna (brother-in-law)
* Workshop