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Initial D: Saint John the Baptist

Cosmè Turaabout 1470–1480

The J. Paul Getty Museum

The J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, United States

The isolated figure of John the Baptist is set against a harsh, minimal landscape. He points up toward heaven with a brittle finger and looks down reflectively toward the inhospitable earth. The Latin words on his winding scroll, taken from the Bible, explain the barren setting, Ego vox clamantis [in deserto] (I am the voice crying aloud in the wilderness).

The cutting comes from a Franciscan gradual (the choir book containing the sung portions of the mass) illuminated by the important fifteenth-century Italian artist, Cosmè Tura, official court artist to the prominent Este family of Ferrara. Tura imbues the scene with a sense of palpable melancholy, not only through the sensitively rendered face of Saint John, but also through the stark landscape and muted colors of the miniature.

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  • Title: Initial D: Saint John the Baptist
  • Creator: Cosmè Tura
  • Date Created: about 1470–1480
  • Location Created: Ferrara, Italy
  • Physical Dimensions: Leaf: 35 × 29.8 cm (13 3/4 × 11 3/4 in.)
  • Type: Detached leaf
  • External Link: Find out more about this object on the Museum website.
  • Medium: Tempera and gold on parchment
  • Terms of Use: Open Content
  • Number: 2005.27.verso
  • Culture: Italian
  • Credit Line: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. 94, verso
  • Creator Display Name: Attributed to Cosmè Tura (Italian (Ferrarese), about 1430 - 1495)
  • Classification: Manuscripts (Documents)
The J. Paul Getty Museum

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