Saint John the Baptist Enthroned

This Saint John the Baptist Enthroned by Lippo di Benivieni, painted around 1317, represents the work of a minor but distinctive Florentine painter active in the early Trecento. Lippo di Benivieni worked in the transitional period between the older Byzantine-influenced style and the revolutionary naturalism of Giotto. Now in the Christ Church Picture Gallery, Oxford, the panel reflects the devotional importance of the Baptist as Florence's patron saint, whose image appeared throughout the city's churches and civic buildings.

Egg tempera and gold on panel with an enthroned figure composition in the Florentine manner. The work shows a hybrid style combining residual Byzantine frontality with early Giottesque attempts at volumetric modeling in the drapery and facial features.