The Head of St John the Baptist

Aelbrecht Bouts painted this Head of Saint John the Baptist for the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. The isolated presentation of the Baptist's head on a charger served as both a devotional image and a memento mori, reminding viewers of the cost of speaking truth to power Egg tempera on panel was the dominant technique of the period, demanding careful layer-by-layer construction and patient craftsmanship The work is now in the collection of Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.

The close-up format focuses entirely on the severed head with its closed eyes and pallid skin, rendered in the meticulous Louvain oil technique with careful attention to the physical details of death.