St John the Baptist

Saint John the Baptist appears here in Strozzi's 1622 version at the Hermitage — a half-length figure of the desert prophet who prepared the way for Christ. The Baptist was among the most frequently painted saints in seventeenth-century Catholic art, partly because his combination of wild austerity and physical vigour offered painters a challenging figure distinct from the decorative saints of earlier tradition, and partly because his role as herald made him a natural subject for churches seeking to emphasise preparation for sacramental grace. Strozzi's Baptist, like Caravaggio's influential treatments, tends toward naturalism: a real man with sun-darkened skin and rough animal-skin garment rather than a golden Renaissance ideal. The camel-hair robe, the lamb (symbol of Christ whom John proclaimed), and the reed cross are the saint's standard attributes. The Hermitage holds several Strozzi works, testament to Russian imperial collecting in the eighteenth century.

The camel-hair garment presented Strozzi with a textural challenge distinct from smooth fabric or armour, and he renders its roughness through broken, stippled brushwork. The lamb's wool, if included, would receive contrasting soft handling. Strozzi positions John in strong lateral light that carves the face into meaningful shadow and highlight, following Caravaggesque convention.