St. John the Baptist by Benedetto da Maiano in the National Gallery, September 2009

Benedetto da Maiano (sculptor)
Italian, 1442 - 1497
Saint John the Baptist, c. 1480
painted terracotta
overall: 48.9 x 52.1 x 26 cm (19 1/4 x 20 1/2 x 10 1/4 in.)
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
1937.1.130

The popular Florentine subject of the young John the Baptist is here presented in a different conception from that of Antonio Rossellino's delicately beautiful marble bust. The difference is not only in the medium, painted terra cotta, which has retained much original coloring that contributes to an immediate naturalism. The sculptor of this bust also has given it a particular psychological intensity. The face is thinner; the features relatively individualized; and the gaze distant in a way that from some angles suggests inward concentration on his message, from others suggests focus on some faraway listener. The long, richly modeled and differentiated hair is at once elegant in its swirling waves and unruly in its loose wisps, suggesting passionate energy that is reiterated by the cloak sweeping across the chest to twist into a knot at one side. The open mouth implies the saint is already preaching.

Benedetto da Maiano was primarily a sculptor in marble, but a number of his terra-cotta productions survive, both sketch models and independent works. An almost life-size, marble statue of the young Saint John the Baptist by Benedetto, datable c.1480/81, is part of a marble doorway in the Sala dei Gigli in the Palazzo della Signoria, Florence's town hall.

Text from: www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=137