Episode 4, Infancy, Saint John the Baptist: From Birth to Beheading, National Gallery, London
The Bible reveals very little about the childhood of John the Baptist. In the 14th century however, a Dominican friar called Domenico Cavalca wrote a biography of the saint that filled in the gaps. This work s popularity inspired Italian Renaissance artists to represent new episodes from his life and to show the infant Baptist in the company of the Christ Child. Art historian Jennifer Sliwka and theologian Ben Quash look at Leonardo da Vinci s, The Virgin of the Rocks, about 1491, 29 and 15068, Bronzin
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