Saint John the Baptist Preaching

The Master of Miraflores's Saint John the Baptist Preaching in the Prado, from his extensive Baptist cycle, depicts John in the wilderness delivering the prophetic call to repentance that preceded Christ's public ministry. John preaching — clothed in camel hair, his voice crying in the desert — was the preparatory action of salvation history, the moment when the forerunner addressed crowds and called sinners to conversion. The Master of Miraflores renders the outdoor preaching scene with the Hispano-Flemish tradition's capacity for multi-figure narrative in a landscape setting, John's authority contrasting with the varied crowd responses around him.

John stands or gestures in a wilderness setting, addressing a crowd of listeners with varied reactions. The master uses Flemish landscape conventions for the desert setting. The crowd offers the painter the opportunity to differentiate figure types, ages, and emotional responses to the Baptist's call for repentance.