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Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
On-screen text: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
On-screen text: Caravaggio (Italian, 1571–1610), Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness, 1604–1605, Oil on canvas
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia, Director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
On-screen text: Julián Zugazagoitia, Director, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Audio— Julián Zugazagoitia: Hello. I am Julián Zugazagoitia, Director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art here in Kansas City, Missouri. Welcome to Bank of America's Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite works in our collection, Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness by Caravaggio, and tell you why it moves me so deeply and why it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: Painted in Rome, at the end of Caravaggio's career, Saint John the Baptist represents Caravaggio's mature style.
Video: The Caravaggio painting The Supper at Emmaus, 1601
Audio: It differs from his early work, where the theatricality of highly dynamic multi-figure scenes establish him….
Video: The Caravaggio painting The Musicians, 1597
Audio: ….as an innovator artist, very different from his classic predecessors, whether of the Renaissance or the more immediate Mannerist.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: His sense of intense contrast of light, his use of everyday people as models and his realism launch what we call now the Baroque era.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: This later painting, while retaining all of Caravaggio's attributes, it's indeed more subdued and representative of his later work.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: It is characterized by its monumental size, the compositional stability, the limited use of colors, the restrained gesture of the figure, and his signature dramatic chiaroscuro, the technique depicting contrasting light to place emphasis in certain areas of the scene….
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….giving his characters both a historic and theatrical dimension, like we can see here.
Video: The Diego Velázquez painting An Old Woman Cooking Eggs, 1618
Audio: This innovation was widely used by many of his followers.
Video: The Orazio Borgianni painting Christ among the Doctors, c. 1609
Audio: Although no one really trained directly under Caravaggio, there were many who followed his technique….
Video: The Gerard van Honthorst painting The Dissolute Student, 1625
Audio: ….and this chiaroscuro, and they were known as the Caravaggisti.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: This particular treatment of Saint John the Baptist would have also been very innovative and surprising at the time he painted it, as it represents the saint as a melancholic, brooding adolescent.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: The painter's careful attention to realistic details, like the dirt on the toenails….
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….conveys the humanistic side of the saint, especially his doubting, to which viewers could immediately relate, while revealing also Caravaggio's insistence upon using live models he would pick up from the streets of Rome and bring back to his studio. This conception of Saint John the Baptist was remarkable also. The saint had hardly ever been depicted….
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….as an isolated figure, without the usual attributes.
Video: The Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) painting Saint John the Baptist, c. 1540–1542
Audio: Normally you would have seen him older, perhaps with a beard, or covered with a lambskin.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: Here, you see the lambskin, but just very subtly, as an indicator of who he is.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: The purpose of this painting was private devotion….
Video: The Bernardo Rebaudo painting Portrait of Ottavio Costa, n.d.
Audio: ….as it was commissioned by Ottavio Costa, a banker to the Popes….
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….as the altarpiece for their small oratory in the Costa fiefdom of Conscente on the Italian Riviera.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: It is one of only seven paintings by Caravaggio in the United States, and considered by many among his best.
Video: The Caravaggio painting The Deposition, c. 1600–1604
Audio: Today, Caravaggio's name resonates widely and is very well known….
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, c. 1595–1596
Audio: ….and is considered a defining artist of the Baroque. But this recognition has had its ups and downs throughout the centuries.
Video: An illustration of Caravaggio from Crabb’s Historical Dictionary, published 1825
Audio: And perhaps this has to do with the very intense and complex personal story of him.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: Born in Milan in 1571, Caravaggio was orphaned by the plague at age 11 and taken by a painter who studied….
Video: An illustration of Caravaggio
Audio: ….under Titian, where he began his apprenticeship. He was a young, troubled man, violent person. He was involved with gangs and prone to fights and incessant conflict.
Video: The Ottavio Leoni chalk drawing Portrait of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, c. 1621
Audio: After wounding a police officer in 1592, a penniless 21-year-old Caravaggio fled to Rome to escape retaliation and justice.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: In Rome, his youthful, innovative talent was quickly recognized, and his career flourished.
Video: The Caravaggio painting The Calling of Saint Matthew, c. 1599–1600
Audio: The church and patrons sought out his realistic, intimate, biblical scenes that provoke connection and contemplation.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint Jerome, 1605–1606
Audio: I think he impressed his patrons then, and continues to touch us today, because he showed suffering so intimately well. Undoubtedly, he could depict what he had both suffered and inflicted.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: His criminal behavior continued, but his wealthy patrons, so inspired by his work, continually bailed him out. Such was the case….
Video: The Étienne Baudet etching Portrait of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, late seventeenth century
Audio: ….until 1606, when he committed a murder and violent assault, and neither his patrons nor his talent could protect him anymore.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: At the very peak of his career, at the age of 34, Caravaggio was forced to flee Rome. He spent the rest of his life as a fugitive, traveling from Naples to Malta to Sicily, before dying, likely of illness, at age 38 in 1610.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: Our painting today can be dated actually at around the last years in Rome, around 1604, thanks to scientific research that was conducted in 2017. In preparation for an important retrospective, the Nelson-Atkins staff and scientists carried out technical studies of the painting to gain a better understanding of Caravaggio's working process.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: Exciting details were uncovered about how the painting was structured and constructed. For example, there's some incised lines that were used to just guide him in placing the figure….
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….an infrared revealed of the paint strokes associated with early stages of the composition.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: We also found evidence that Caravaggio thought about including….
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….a different type of leaf in the background instead of the oak leaves we see today.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: As a result of these collaborative studies, Caravaggio experts were able to narrow the date of the Nelson-Atkins painting to around 1604, six years prior to his demise. One can only imagine and speculate what his art production would have been like, had he lived for many, many more years. And in a way, the serenity that we witness in this depiction of Saint John the Baptist can really be interpreted today like the calm in the middle of a storm….
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: …. calm that invites us to reflect and brings hope.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: I want to thank you for taking time to watch and learn more about Saint John the Baptist and invite you to visit the Nelson-Atkins in person or online….
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….and to find more fascinating aspects about this painting and our vast encyclopedic collections.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the works with your family and friends. And please visit the Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss an inspired moment brought by these magnificent works of art. Thank you.
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Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness, 1604
Oil on canvas
68” × 52” (172.7 × 132.1 cm)
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
The Supper at Emmaus, 1601
Oil and tempera on canvas
56” × 77 1/4” (141 × 196.2 cm)
Presented by the Hon. George Vernon, 1839
National Gallery, London
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
The Musicians, 1597
Oil on canvas
36 1/4” × 46 5/8” (92.1 × 118.4 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1952
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Diego Velázquez (Spanish, 1599–1660)
An Old Woman Cooking Eggs, 1618
Oil on canvas
39 1/2” × 47” (100.5 × 119.5 cm)
Purchased with the aid of the Art Fund and a Treasury Grant 1955
National Galleries of Scotland
Orazio Borgianni (Italian, 1574–1616)
Christ among the Doctors, c. 1609
Oil on canvas
30 3/4” × 41 1/8” (78.2 × 104.6 cm)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch, 1592–1656)
The Dissolute Student, 1625
Oil on canvas
49 1/4” × 61 3/8” (125 × 156 cm)
Sammlung, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (Italian, 1488/90–1576)
Saint John the Baptist, c. 1540–1542
Oil on canvas
79” × 46 7/8” (201 × 119 cm)
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Rome
Bernardo Rebaudo (Italian, b. 1573, death date unknown)
Portrait of Ottavio Costa, n.d.
Image courtesy Vides Ut Alta, Wikimedia Commons
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
The Deposition, c. 1600–1604
Oil on canvas
118” × 80” (300 × 203 cm)
Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican City
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, c. 1595–1596
Oil on canvas
37” × 51” (94 × 130 cm)
The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut
Illustration of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio from Crabb’s Historical Dictionary, published 1825
Classic Image / Alamy Stock Photo
Illustration of Caravaggio
Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
Ottavio Leoni (Italian, 1578–1630)
Portrait of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, c. 1621
Chalk on paper
Biblioteca Marucelliana, Florence
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
The Calling of Saint Matthew, c. 1599–1600
Oil on canvas
134” × 126 3/4” (340 × 322 cm)
Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
Saint Jerome, 1605–1606
45 5/8” × 60 1/4” (116 × 153 cm)
Galleria Borghese, Rome
Étienne Baudet (French, c. 1636–1711)
Portrait of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, late seventeenth century, from the engraving by Ottavio Leoni
Etching on paper
6 5/8” × 5” (16.7 × 12.7 cm)
The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
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