Saint John the Baptist

Saint John the Baptist

Juan de Ancheta

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Although incorporating classical, heroic elements of Michelangelo's figural style, this work displays the continuing Spanish taste for polychromy. Particularly lovely is the use of estofado in the landscape background. Dressed in animal skin like the Baptist by Martínez Montañés (63.40), here John points directly to the lamb of God, a symbol of Christ, resting on a volume of the gospel.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.