Saint Jean Baptiste

Paolo di Giovanni Fei was a Sienese painter active in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, a follower of Bartolo di Fredi whose work represents the continuation of the great Sienese Gothic tradition. This Saint John the Baptist, in the Musee du Petit Palais, likely formed part of a polyptych altarpiece. The Baptist held particular importance in Siena's rival city of Florence, but was equally revered across Tuscany as a prophet and ascetic model for religious communities.

Egg tempera on gold-ground panel, displaying Paolo di Giovanni Fei's characteristic soft modeling and muted palette within the Sienese tradition. The Baptist is rendered with careful attention to his iconographic attributes — the hair shirt and scroll — set against a tooled gold background with decorative punch-work.