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The central character of this painting is hidden in the shadows: a man with long hair and a beard who seems to draw the attention of the people gathered before him. This is Saint John the Baptist, standing on what looks like an improvised pulpit. The large crowd is divided between conversation and close attention to John’s announcement of the coming of Christ. The Gospel of Matthew recounts how people flocked from Jerusalem, Judea and ‘all the region round about Jordan’ to hear John’s message and to be baptised by him. Cornelis took great care to depict a variety of people, some looking like his Haarlem contemporaries, others dressed more exotically.Cornelis seems to have adopted the large-scale landscape with a biblical subject from the Flemish painter Karel van Mander.
Title
The Preaching of Saint John the Baptist
Date
1602
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 100 x W 180 cm
Accession number
NG6443
Acquisition method
Bought, 1978
Work type
Painting
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