School of Brussels, c. 1640

This contemplative young Saint John the Baptist is not far from the single-figure compositions of Michiel Sweerts, such as his Boy with a hat (Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford). Certainly, it is the work of a talented Flemish artist active in the mid-seventeenth century and influenced by the work of Caravaggio. The sensitive modeling of the saint's face as well as the beautifully painted lamb are described with confident brush strokes and a palette of earth tones heightened with carmine.