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Showing 77 items
Glass Public Domain

Goblet

Nuremberg, Germany
Late 17th century • Nuremberg
Glass
View Details
API Model
artworks
Thumbnail LQIP

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Thumbnail Width
1267
Thumbnail Height
2250
Thumbnail Alt Text
A work made of glass.
Main Reference Number
1927.1262
Has Not Been Viewed Much
Yes
Date Start
1675
Date End
1699
Date Display
Late 17th century
Artist Display
Nuremberg, Germany
Place of Origin
Nuremberg
Dimensions
32.9 × 14.3 cm (12 15/16 × 5 5/8 in.)
Dimensions Detail 0 Width
0
Dimensions Detail 0 Height
32
Dimensions Detail 0 Diameter
14
Medium Display
Glass
Credit Line
Gift of Julius and Augusta Rosenwald
Provenance Text

Jacques Mühsam (1857–1930), Berlin, before 1914 [see Schmidt 1914, 28]; sold to Julius Rosenwald (1862–1932) and Augusta Nusbaum Rosenwald (1868–1929), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1927.

Publishing Verification Level
Web Cataloged
Internal Department ID
6
Fiscal Year
1928
Is Public Domain
Yes
Is Zoomable
Yes
Max Zoom Window Size
-1
Colorfulness
6.35
Color H
168
Color L
68
Color S
0
Color Percentage
0.16101796317031
Color Population
2032
Artwork Type Title
Glass
Artwork Type ID
37
Department Title
Applied Arts of Europe
Department ID
PC-9
Artist ID
0
Artist IDs 0
0
Category IDs 0
PC-9
Category Titles 0
Applied Arts of Europe
Term Titles
["drinking vessel","glass","glass","european decorative arts"]
Classification ID
TM-11734
Classification Title
drinking vessel
Alt Classification IDs 0
TM-85
Alt Classification IDs 1
TM-1394
Classification IDs 0
TM-11734
Classification IDs 1
TM-85
Classification IDs 2
TM-1394
Classification Titles 0
drinking vessel
Classification Titles 1
glass
Classification Titles 2
european decorative arts
Material ID
TM-2453
Material IDs 0
TM-2453
Material Titles 0
glass
Image ID
5dd705ad-5329-72f6-d7a5-79ed3be55ce8
Source Updated At
March 18, 2026 8:35 pm
Updated At
March 18, 2026 11:11 pm
Timestamp
March 18, 2026 11:15 pm
Glass Public Domain

Covered Goblet (Pokal) with a Bear Hunt

Germany, Nuremberg
1680/1700 • Nuremberg
Glass
View Details
API Model
artworks
Thumbnail LQIP

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Thumbnail Width
1298
Thumbnail Height
2250
Thumbnail Alt Text
A work made of glass.
Main Reference Number
1927.1130
Has Not Been Viewed Much
Yes
Date Start
1680
Date End
1700
Date Display
1680/1700
Artist Display
Germany, Nuremberg
Place of Origin
Nuremberg
Dimensions
36.7 × 13.5 cm (14 7/16 × 5 5/16 in.)
Dimensions Detail 0 Width
0
Dimensions Detail 0 Height
36
Dimensions Detail 0 Diameter
13
Medium Display
Glass
Credit Line
Gift of Julius and Augusta Rosenwald
Exhibition History

2009. Art Institute of Chicago, A Case for Wine from King Tut to Today, July 11, 2009- September 20, 2009.

Provenance Text

Jacques Mühsam (1857–1930), Berlin, before 1914 [see Schmidt 1914, 28]; sold to Julius Rosenwald (1862–1932) and Augusta Nusbaum Rosenwald (1868–1929), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1927.

Publishing Verification Level
Web Cataloged
Internal Department ID
6
Fiscal Year
1928
Is Public Domain
Yes
Is Zoomable
Yes
Max Zoom Window Size
-1
Colorfulness
3.4035
Color H
0
Color L
52
Color S
2
Color Percentage
0.0020298419240303
Color Population
25
Artwork Type Title
Glass
Artwork Type ID
37
Department Title
Applied Arts of Europe
Department ID
PC-9
Artist ID
0
Artist IDs 0
0
Category IDs 0
PC-9
Category Titles 0
Applied Arts of Europe
Term Titles
["drinking vessel","glass","glass","european decorative arts"]
Classification ID
TM-11734
Classification Title
drinking vessel
Alt Classification IDs 0
TM-85
Alt Classification IDs 1
TM-1394
Classification IDs 0
TM-11734
Classification IDs 1
TM-85
Classification IDs 2
TM-1394
Classification Titles 0
drinking vessel
Classification Titles 1
glass
Classification Titles 2
european decorative arts
Material ID
TM-2453
Material IDs 0
TM-2453
Material Titles 0
glass
Image ID
9af80f4b-0593-87a8-5b1e-49833d75d941
Source Updated At
March 18, 2026 8:34 pm
Updated At
March 18, 2026 11:11 pm
Timestamp
March 18, 2026 11:15 pm
Arms Public Domain On View

Rapier and Scabbard

Antonio Piccinino
c. 1630 • Flanders
Steel, iron, copper, textile, leather, and wood

A masterpiece of chiseled steel, the hilt of this rapier is ornamented with figures from ancient Roman mythology, including the gods Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Mars, Pluto, Apollo, and…

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API Model
artworks
Thumbnail LQIP

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Thumbnail Width
3500
Thumbnail Height
5000
Thumbnail Alt Text
A work made of steel, iron, copper, textile, leather, and wood.
Main Reference Number
1982.2139a-b
Date Start
1625
Date End
1645
Date Display
c. 1630
Artist Display
Probably Flemish
Place of Origin
Flanders
Description

A masterpiece of chiseled steel, the hilt of this rapier is ornamented with figures from ancient Roman mythology, including the gods Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Mars, Pluto, Apollo, and Mercury and the hero Hercules. Over the cross guard are figures symbolizing the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. The pommel (top) depicts a story from Greek mythology, the Judgment of Paris. Asked to select the most beautiful of three goddesses, the Trojan prince Paris chooses Venus, causing the Trojan War. The name of the craftsman who carved this hilt is unknown, though several pieces by his hand can be identified. The style and workmanship suggest he was probably Flemish and active around 1630.

Dimensions
Overall L. 120.5 cm (47 7/16 in.) Blade L. 103.5 cm (40 3/4 in.) Wt. 2 lb. 5 oz.
Dimensions Detail 0 Width
0
Dimensions Detail 0 Height
0
Medium Display
Steel, iron, copper, textile, leather, and wood
Credit Line
George F. Harding Collection
Publishing Verification Level
Web Basic
Internal Department ID
6
Fiscal Year
1982
Is Public Domain
Yes
Is Zoomable
Yes
Max Zoom Window Size
-1
Colorfulness
5.4801
Color H
56
Color L
82
Color S
0
Color Percentage
0.5292993171107
Color Population
5283
Is On View
Yes
Gallery Title
Gallery 239
Gallery ID
28498
Artwork Type Title
Arms
Artwork Type ID
28
Department Title
Applied Arts of Europe
Department ID
PC-9
Artist ID
66509
Artist Title
Antonio Piccinino
Artist IDs 0
66509
Artist Titles 0
Antonio Piccinino
Category IDs 0
PC-9
Category Titles 0
Applied Arts of Europe
Term Titles
["edged weapon-sword","arms","arms and armor","silk (fiber)"]
Classification ID
TM-1057
Classification Title
edged weapon-sword
Alt Classification IDs 0
TM-714
Alt Classification IDs 1
TM-351
Classification IDs 0
TM-1057
Classification IDs 1
TM-714
Classification IDs 2
TM-351
Classification Titles 0
edged weapon-sword
Classification Titles 1
arms
Classification Titles 2
arms and armor
Material IDs 0
TM-3688
Material Titles 0
silk (fiber)
Image ID
5213a61f-c23e-9c63-4bd9-9864e96edc53
Source Updated At
March 18, 2026 8:33 pm
Updated At
March 18, 2026 11:11 pm
Timestamp
March 18, 2026 11:15 pm
Glass Public Domain

Covered Goblet (Pokal)

Germany, Potsdam or Berlin
1715/25 • Germany
Blown and molded glass with engraved decoration and gilding
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Thumbnail LQIP

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Thumbnail Width
1304
Thumbnail Height
2250
Thumbnail Alt Text
A work made of blown and molded glass with engraved decoration and gilding.
Main Reference Number
1927.1217
Has Not Been Viewed Much
Yes
Date Start
1715
Date End
1725
Date Display
1715/25
Artist Display
Germany, Potsdam or Berlin
Place of Origin
Germany
Dimensions
41.8 × 14.5 cm (16 7/16 × 5 11/16 in.)
Dimensions Detail 0 Width
0
Dimensions Detail 0 Height
41
Dimensions Detail 0 Diameter
14
Medium Display
Blown and molded glass with engraved decoration and gilding
Credit Line
Gift of Mr & Mrs Julius Rosenwald
Publishing Verification Level
Web Basic
Internal Department ID
6
Fiscal Year
1928
Is Public Domain
Yes
Is Zoomable
Yes
Max Zoom Window Size
-1
Colorfulness
5.8541
Color H
257
Color L
54
Color S
0
Color Percentage
0.20846836490524
Color Population
2557
Artwork Type Title
Glass
Artwork Type ID
37
Department Title
Applied Arts of Europe
Department ID
PC-9
Artist ID
0
Artist IDs 0
0
Category IDs 0
PC-9
Category Titles 0
Applied Arts of Europe
Term Titles
["drinking vessel","glass","glass","european decorative arts"]
Classification ID
TM-11734
Classification Title
drinking vessel
Alt Classification IDs 0
TM-85
Alt Classification IDs 1
TM-1394
Classification IDs 0
TM-11734
Classification IDs 1
TM-85
Classification IDs 2
TM-1394
Classification Titles 0
drinking vessel
Classification Titles 1
glass
Classification Titles 2
european decorative arts
Material ID
TM-2453
Material IDs 0
TM-2453
Material Titles 0
glass
Image ID
205fe6e3-5a6f-70a0-5375-260dbb25999e
Source Updated At
March 18, 2026 8:35 pm
Updated At
March 18, 2026 11:11 pm
Timestamp
March 18, 2026 11:15 pm
Arms Public Domain On View

Rapier of the Guard of the Duke-Electors of Saxony

German, Dresden
1590/1600 • Dresden
Steel, silver, gold, wood, and rayskin
View Details
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artworks
Thumbnail LQIP

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Thumbnail Width
3564
Thumbnail Height
5072
Thumbnail Alt Text
A work made of steel, silver, gold, wood, and rayskin.
Main Reference Number
1982.2137
Date Start
1580
Date End
1610
Date Display
1590/1600
Date Qualifier Title
Copy
Date Qualifier ID
14
Artist Display
German, Dresden
Place of Origin
Dresden
Dimensions
Overall L. 121 cm (47 5/8 in.) Blade L. 107.7 cm (42 3/8 in.) Wt. 2 lb. 13 oz.
Dimensions Detail 0 Width
0
Dimensions Detail 0 Height
0
Medium Display
Steel, silver, gold, wood, and rayskin
Credit Line
George F. Harding Collection
Publishing Verification Level
Web Basic
Internal Department ID
6
Fiscal Year
1982
Is Public Domain
Yes
Is Zoomable
Yes
Max Zoom Window Size
-1
Colorfulness
4.4231
Color H
3
Color L
30
Color S
2
Color Percentage
0.0085013839462238
Color Population
86
Is On View
Yes
Gallery Title
Gallery 239
Gallery ID
28498
Artwork Type Title
Arms
Artwork Type ID
28
Department Title
Applied Arts of Europe
Department ID
PC-9
Artist ID
0
Artist IDs 0
0
Category IDs 0
PC-9
Category Titles 0
Applied Arts of Europe
Term Titles
["edged weapon-sword","arms","arms and armor"]
Classification ID
TM-1057
Classification Title
edged weapon-sword
Alt Classification IDs 0
TM-714
Alt Classification IDs 1
TM-351
Classification IDs 0
TM-1057
Classification IDs 1
TM-714
Classification IDs 2
TM-351
Classification Titles 0
edged weapon-sword
Classification Titles 1
arms
Classification Titles 2
arms and armor
Image ID
4214e658-81b1-999f-9ba2-184753136813
Source Updated At
March 18, 2026 8:30 pm
Updated At
March 18, 2026 11:11 pm
Timestamp
March 18, 2026 11:15 pm
Print Public Domain

Portrait of Henry Bunbury

Thomas Ryder, I
1789 • Great Britain
Stipple engraving in black on cream laid paper
View Details
API Model
artworks
Thumbnail Width
0
Thumbnail Height
0
Main Reference Number
2025.989
Has Not Been Viewed Much
Yes
Date Start
1789
Date End
1789
Date Display
1789
Artist Display
Thomas Ryder (British, 1746-1810) after Sir Thomas Lawrence (British, 1769-1830)
Place of Origin
Great Britain
Dimensions
Sight: 29.5 × 24.5 cm (11 5/8 × 9 11/16 in.)
Dimensions Detail 0 Width
24
Dimensions Detail 0 Height
29
Dimensions Detail 0 Clarification
Sight
Medium Display
Stipple engraving in black on cream laid paper
Credit Line
Gift of Susan J. Moran
Publishing Verification Level
Web Basic
Internal Department ID
3
Fiscal Year
2026
Is Public Domain
Yes
Is Zoomable
Yes
Max Zoom Window Size
-1
Color H
0
Color L
0
Color S
0
Color Population
0
Artwork Type Title
Print
Artwork Type ID
18
Department Title
Prints and Drawings
Department ID
PC-13
Artist ID
88209
Artist Title
Thomas Ryder, I
Artist IDs 0
88209
Artist Titles 0
Thomas Ryder, I
Category IDs 0
PC-13
Category Titles 0
Prints and Drawings
Term Titles
["print","paper","engraving","prints and drawing"]
Classification ID
TM-17
Classification Title
print
Alt Classification IDs 0
TM-145
Alt Classification IDs 1
TM-12
Alt Classification IDs 2
TM-4
Classification IDs 0
TM-17
Classification IDs 1
TM-145
Classification IDs 2
TM-12
Classification IDs 3
TM-4
Classification Titles 0
print
Classification Titles 1
paper
Classification Titles 2
engraving
Classification Titles 3
prints and drawing
Source Updated At
March 18, 2026 8:29 pm
Updated At
March 18, 2026 11:11 pm
Timestamp
March 18, 2026 11:15 pm
Textile

Facade (Furnishing Fabric)

Angelo Testa
1952 • Chicago
Linen, plain weave; screenprinted
View Details
API Model
artworks
Thumbnail LQIP

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Thumbnail Width
4036
Thumbnail Height
5655
Thumbnail Alt Text
A work made of linen, plain weave; screenprinted.
Main Reference Number
1982.184
Has Not Been Viewed Much
Yes
Date Start
1952
Date End
1952
Date Display
1952
Date Qualifier Title
Made
Date Qualifier ID
4
Artist Display
Designed by Angelo Testa (American, 1921–1984) Produced by Angelo Testa & Company (American, 1947–1984) United States, Illinois, Chicago
Place of Origin
Chicago
Dimensions
184.6 × 128.5 cm (72 5/8 × 50 5/8 in.)
Dimensions Detail 0 Width
128
Dimensions Detail 0 Height
184
Medium Display
Linen, plain weave; screenprinted
Credit Line
Alexander Demond Fund
Provenance Text

Angelo Testa, Chicago, IL [incoming receipt RX13555, May 25, 1982; copy in curatorial object file]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1982.

Publishing Verification Level
Web Cataloged
Internal Department ID
4
Fiscal Year
1982
Max Zoom Window Size
843
Colorfulness
39.6235
Color H
357
Color L
61
Color S
3
Color Percentage
0.23182396645985
Color Population
2308
Artwork Type Title
Textile
Artwork Type ID
5
Department Title
Textiles
Department ID
PC-14
Artist ID
32853
Artist Title
Angelo Testa
Artist IDs 0
32853
Artist Titles 0
Angelo Testa
Category IDs 0
PC-14
Category Titles 0
Textiles
Term Titles
["Chicago","Modernism","linen","screen printing","printed textile","weaving - printed","textile","furnishing textile","plain weaving","weaving","geometric motif","grids","rectangles","squares"]
Style ID
TM-5981
Style Title
Modernism
Style IDs 0
TM-5981
Style Titles 0
Modernism
Classification ID
TM-2352
Classification Title
printed textile
Alt Classification IDs 0
TM-353
Alt Classification IDs 1
TM-69
Alt Classification IDs 2
TM-14729
Classification IDs 0
TM-2352
Classification IDs 1
TM-353
Classification IDs 2
TM-69
Classification IDs 3
TM-14729
Classification Titles 0
printed textile
Classification Titles 1
weaving - printed
Classification Titles 2
textile
Classification Titles 3
furnishing textile
Subject ID
TM-12075
Material ID
TM-14007
Material IDs 0
TM-14007
Material Titles 0
linen
Technique ID
TM-10604
Alt Technique IDs 0
TM-10513
Technique IDs 0
TM-10604
Technique IDs 1
TM-10513
Technique Titles 0
screen printing
Technique Titles 1
plain weaving
Image ID
dda0f286-efe6-a231-793a-9010d945eb03
Source Updated At
March 18, 2026 8:23 pm
Updated At
March 18, 2026 11:11 pm
Timestamp
March 18, 2026 11:15 pm
Metalwork Public Domain

Pair of Lamps

Roswell Gleason
1822–50 • United States
Pewter
View Details
API Model
artworks
Thumbnail LQIP

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Thumbnail Width
3000
Thumbnail Height
1797
Thumbnail Alt Text
A work made of pewter.
Main Reference Number
1946.717.1-2
Has Not Been Viewed Much
Yes
Date Start
1822
Date End
1850
Date Display
1822–50
Date Qualifier Title
c.
Date Qualifier ID
60
Artist Display
Rosewell Gleason (American, 1799–1887) Dorchester, Boston
Place of Origin
United States
Dimensions
Each: 14.6 × 13.7 × 14.6 cm (5 3/4 × 5 3/8 × 5 3/4 in.)
Dimensions Detail 0 Depth
14
Dimensions Detail 0 Width
13
Dimensions Detail 0 Height
14
Dimensions Detail 0 Clarification
Each
Medium Display
Pewter
Credit Line
Thorne Rooms Exhibition Fund
Publishing Verification Level
Web Basic
Internal Department ID
21
Fiscal Year
1946
Is Public Domain
Yes
Is Zoomable
Yes
Max Zoom Window Size
-1
Colorfulness
6.2834
Color H
356
Color L
55
Color S
2
Color Percentage
0.16161046709653
Color Population
688
Artwork Type Title
Metalwork
Artwork Type ID
35
Department Title
Arts of the Americas
Department ID
PC-3
Artist ID
34674
Artist Title
Roswell Gleason
Artist IDs 0
34674
Artist Titles 0
Roswell Gleason
Category IDs 0
PC-3
Category Titles 0
Arts of the Americas
Term Titles
["metalwork","pewter","tin alloy","nonferrous metal","metal","inorganic material","american decorative arts","american arts","decorative arts","decorative arts"]
Classification ID
TM-29
Classification Title
metalwork
Alt Classification IDs 0
TM-2190
Alt Classification IDs 1
TM-2191
Alt Classification IDs 2
TM-1678
Classification IDs 0
TM-29
Classification IDs 1
TM-2190
Classification IDs 2
TM-2191
Classification IDs 3
TM-1678
Classification Titles 0
metalwork
Classification Titles 1
american decorative arts
Classification Titles 2
american arts
Classification Titles 3
decorative arts
Material ID
TM-2513
Material IDs 0
TM-2513
Material Titles 0
pewter
Image ID
65c57b21-eb70-6306-808a-27587d04985e
Source Updated At
March 18, 2026 8:12 pm
Updated At
March 18, 2026 11:11 pm
Timestamp
March 18, 2026 11:15 pm
Arms Public Domain On View

Sword with Scabbard for an Officer in the Bodyguard of the Elector of Saxony

Urban Schneeweiss
c. 1580 • Dresden
Steel, silver, wood, and leather
View Details
API Model
artworks
Thumbnail LQIP

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Thumbnail Width
1722
Thumbnail Height
2250
Thumbnail Alt Text
A work made of steel, silver, wood, and leather.
Main Reference Number
1982.2136a-b
Date Start
1570
Date End
1610
Date Display
c. 1580
Date Qualifier Title
Made
Date Qualifier ID
4
Artist Display
Silversmith: Attributed to Urban Schneeweiss German, Dresden, 1536-1600
Place of Origin
Dresden
Dimensions
Overall L. 119.5 cm (47 in.) Blade L. 101.5 cm (40 in.) Scabbard L. 107 cm (42 1/8 in.) Wt. 3 lb. 4 oz. Scabbard Wt. 6oz.
Dimensions Detail 0 Width
0
Dimensions Detail 0 Height
0
Medium Display
Steel, silver, wood, and leather
Inscriptions
Inscribed on blade: I H S in a groove on each side of forte Stamped on back of scabbard locket: W D [silversmith's marks]
Credit Line
George F. Harding Collection
Publication History

Walter Karchieski, “Arms and Armor in the Art Institute of Chicago” (Art Institute of Chicago/Little, Brown, and Company, 1995), p. 83 (ill.)

Publishing Verification Level
Web Cataloged
Internal Department ID
6
Fiscal Year
1982
Is Public Domain
Yes
Is Zoomable
Yes
Max Zoom Window Size
-1
Colorfulness
4.8923
Color H
300
Color L
59
Color S
0
Color Percentage
0.31331378893123
Color Population
2908
Is On View
Yes
Gallery Title
Gallery 239
Gallery ID
28498
Artwork Type Title
Arms
Artwork Type ID
28
Department Title
Applied Arts of Europe
Department ID
PC-9
Artist ID
80647
Artist Title
Urban Schneeweiss
Artist IDs 0
80647
Artist Titles 0
Urban Schneeweiss
Category IDs 0
PC-9
Category Titles 0
Applied Arts of Europe
Term Titles
["edged weapon-sword","arms","arms and armor"]
Classification ID
TM-1057
Classification Title
edged weapon-sword
Alt Classification IDs 0
TM-714
Alt Classification IDs 1
TM-351
Classification IDs 0
TM-1057
Classification IDs 1
TM-714
Classification IDs 2
TM-351
Classification Titles 0
edged weapon-sword
Classification Titles 1
arms
Classification Titles 2
arms and armor
Image ID
8d145d47-9cd1-023e-16f4-04314ca3f8ca
Source Updated At
March 18, 2026 8:14 pm
Updated At
March 18, 2026 11:11 pm
Timestamp
March 18, 2026 11:15 pm
Painting Public Domain

Ecce Agnus Dei

Giovanni di Paolo
1455–60 • Italy
Tempera on panel

This series of panels illustrates scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist, a prophet who foretold Jesus’s arrival as the Christian savior. The Art Institute’s collection…

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artworks
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Thumbnail Width
4909
Thumbnail Height
9108
Thumbnail Alt Text
A work made of tempera on panel.
Main Reference Number
1933.1011
Date Start
1455
Date End
1460
Date Display
1455–60
Artist Display
Giovanni di Paolo (Italian, 1398–1482)
Place of Origin
Italy
Description

This series of panels illustrates scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist, a prophet who foretold Jesus’s arrival as the Christian savior. The Art Institute’s collection includes six panels that were originally part of a group of 12 that possibly formed the doors of a reliquary shrine to the saint.

The narrative begins as John leaves civilization, entering the wilderness to become a hermit. In a following scene, John wears a hair shirt, a coarse undergarment symbolizing his ascetic life, as he announces that Jesus is the savior prophesied as the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God. Subsequent panels show John’s imprisonment and violent execution at the hands of Herod, ruler of Galilee. Giovanni di Paolo related the Baptist’s complex biography with expressive figures represented multiple times to indicate their movement through highly imaginative and stylized settings.

Dimensions
68.5 × 39.5 cm (27 × 15 1/2 in.); Framed: 80.1 × 53.4 × 8.9 cm (31 1/2 × 21 × 3 1/2 in.)
Dimensions Detail 0 Width
39
Dimensions Detail 0 Height
68
Medium Display
Tempera on panel
Inscriptions
Inscribed upper right: ADA D[?] GNA (on bridge)
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
Publication History

F. Mason Perkins, “Dipinti sconosciuti della scuola senese,” Rassegna d’arte senese 3, 1 (1907), pp. 82–83, ill.

E. Jacobsen, Das Quattrocento in Siena: Studien in der Gemäldegalerie der Akademie (Strasbourg, 1908), p. 50.

Bernard Berenson, The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance, 2d ed. (New York and London, 1909), p. 177.

Paul Schubring, “Opere Sconosciute di Giovanni di Paolo e del Vecchietta,” Rassegna d’arte 12, 10 (1912), pp. 163–64.

J. A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in Italy, 2d ed., vol. 5, ed. T. Borenius (New York, 1914), p. 178 n.

F. Mason Perkins, “Dipinti senesi sconosciuti o inediti,” Rassegna d’arte 14 (1914), p. 163 n. 2.

Paul Schubring, Cassoni: Truhen und Truhenbilder der italienischen Frührenaissance (Leipzig, 1915), vol. 1, pp. 324–25, nos. 445–50; vol. 3, pl. CV.

Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, and Architecture (Chicago, 1917), p. 165.

Giacomo De Nicola, “The Masterpiece of Giovanni di Paolo,” Burlington Magazine 33, 184 (1918), pp. 45–54, pl. I.
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University: Collection of Mediaeval and Renaissance Paintings (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1919), p. 121.

Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, Paintings, and Drawings (Chicago, August 1920), p. 62.

Curt H. Weigelt, in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, ed. Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, vol. 14 (Leipzig, 1921), p. 135.

Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, and Paintings (Chicago, 1922), p. 71.

Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, and Paintings (Chicago, 1923), p. 71.

Frank Jewett Mather, Jr., A History of Italian Painting (New York, 1923), p. 95.

G. Soulier, Les Influences orientales dans la peinture toscane (Paris, 1924), p. 206.

Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago, 1925), p. 159, no. 2029.

Rose Mary Fischkin, “Two Paintings by Matteo di Giovanni,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 20, 3 (1926), p. 30.

Mary Rose Fischkin, “Martin A. Ryerson Collection of Paintings and Sculpture, XIII to XVIII, Loaned to The Art Institute of Chicago” (unpub. MS. 1926, Ryerson Library, Art Institute of Chicago), pp. 30–34.

Richard Offner, Italian Primitives at Yale University (New Haven, 1927), p. 40.

Raimond van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, vol. 9 (The Hague, 1927), pp. 427–30.

Robert Lehman, The Philip Lehman Collection (Paris, 1928), under no. XLVI.

Kurt Erdmann, “Orientalische Tierteppiche auf Bildern des XIV. und XV. Jahrhunderts: Eine Studie zu den Anfängen des orientalischen Knüpfteppichs,” Jahrbuch der preussischen Kunstsammlungen 50 (1929), p. 283.

Emilio Cecchi, Pietro Lorenzetti (Milan, 1930), p. 27.

Curt H. Weigelt, Sienese Painting of the Trecento (New York, 1930), p. 86 n. 75.

Lionello Venturi, Pitture italiane in America (Milan, 1931), no pag., pl. CXXXVII.

Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance (Oxford, 1932), p. 245.

Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago, 1932), p. 180.

G. H. Edgell, A History of Sienese Painting (New York, 1932), pp. 218–20, fig. 307.

William R. Valentiner, “Paintings in the Collection of Martin A. Ryerson” (unpub. MS [1932], Archives, Art Institute), no pag.

Daniel Catton Rich, “The Paintings of Martin A. Ryerson,” Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 27, 1 (1933), pp. 6–8, ill.

Alfred M. Frankfurter, “Art in the Century of Progress,” Fine Arts 20 (1933), p. 60.

Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Illustrated Guide to the Collections (Chicago, 1935), pp. 20–21.

Hans Tietze, Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika (Vienna, 1935), p. 325, under no. 37.

Bernard Berenson, Pitture italiane del Rinascimento (Milan, 1936), p. 211.

John Pope-Hennessy, Giovanni di Paolo, 1403–1483 (London, 1937), pp. 80–90, pl. XXb.

René Brimo, Art et goût: L’Évolution du goût aux États-Unis d’après l’histoire des collections (Paris, 1938), p. 92.

Robert Langton Douglas, review of Giovanni di Paolo by J. Pope-Hennessy, in Burlington Magazine 72, 418 (1938), pp. 44–47.

Helen F. Mackenzie, “Panels by Giovanni di Paolo of Siena,” Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 32, 7 (1938), pp. 106–09, ill.

John Pope-Hennessy, “Letters: Giovanni di Paolo,” Burlington Magazine 72, 419 (1938), p. 95.

A. Weller, review of Giovanni di Paolo by John Pope-Hennessy, Art Bulletin 20 (1938), p. 126.

Alfred M. Frankfurter, “The Mediaeval Style in Painting,” Art News 38, 20 (1940), p. 14.

Cesare Brandi, “Giovanni di Paolo, II,” Le arti 30 (1941), pp. 325–28, 331–32, pl. CXXVII.

Regina Shoolman and Charles E. Slatkin, The Enjoyment of Art in America (Philadelphia and New York, 1942), p. 256.

Peleo Bacci, Documenti e commenti per la storia dell’arte (Florence, 1944), pp. 89–90.

Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1945), p. 28.

H. G. Fell, “The Connoisseur Divan,” Connoisseur 116 (1945), p. 53.

J. Lipman, “The Composite Scene in Primitive Painting,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th ser., 29 (1946), p. 124.

Cesare Brandi, Giovanni di Paolo (Florence, 1947), pp. 44–48, 51–52, 120, fig. 56.

John Pope-Hennessy, Sienese Quattrocento Painting (Oxford, 1947), pp. 13, 27, pl. XXX.

Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1948), p. 25.

Cesare Brandi, Quattrocentisti senesi (Milan, 1949), pp. 101, 261–62, pl. 150.

Ugo Galetti and Ettore Camesasca, Enciclopedia della pittura italiana, vol. 1 (Milan, 1950), pp. 1164–65, 1167, ill.

Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools (London, 1951), p. 191, under no. 5454; reprinted (London, 1961).

George Kaftal, Iconography of the Saints in Tuscan Painting (Florence, 1952), p. 552.

Art News 51, 4 (1952), col. 552.

Mario Salmi, L’arte italiana, vol. 1 (Rome, 1953), p. 431, fig. 656.

Frederick A. Sweet, “La pittura italiana all’Art Institute di Chicago,” Le vie del mondo: Rivista mensile del Touring Club Italiano 15 (1953), pp. 696–97.

Enzo Carli, La pittura senese (Milan, 1955), pp. 224, 226.

Marilyn Aronberg Lavin, “Giovannino Battista: A Study in Renaissance Religious Symbolism,” Art Bulletin 37, 2 (1955), pp. 90–91 n. 33.

Enzo Carli, Sienese Painting (Greenwich, Connecticut, 1956), pp. 63–64.

Louis Réau, Iconographie de l’art Chrétien, vol. 2, pt. 1, (Paris, 1956), pp. 442, 450, 452, 455–56, 458.

G. U., “Schede di restauro,” Bollettino dell’Istituto Centrale del Restauro 27–28 (1956), p. 160.

John Pope-Hennessy, “Sassetta and Giovanni di Paolo: The Renaissance in Siena,” Art News Annual 27 (1958), pp. 133, 137, 142, 144–48, 151, 154, 180, ill.

Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), p. 179.

Enzo Carli, “Problemi e restauri di Giovanni di Paolo,” Pantheon 19 (1961), pp. 163–77.

Ernest T. De Wald, Italian Painting, 1200-1600 (New York, 1961), p. 339.

Hans Huth, “Italienische Kunstwerke im Art Institute von Chicago, USA,” in Miscellanea Bibliothecae Hertzianae (Munich, 1961), p. 517.

John Pope-Hennessy, “Giovanni di Paolo,” in Encyclopedia of World Art, vol. 6 (New York, 1962), col. 357.

“The Great Grey City,” Apollo 84 (1966), p. 177.

Frederick A. Sweet, “Great Chicago Collectors,” Apollo 84 (1966), pp. 198, 202.

Victor Lasareff, “Saggi sulla pittura veneziana dei sec. XIII-XIV: La maniera greca e il problema della scuola cretese (II),” Arte veneta 20 (1966), p. 48, fig. 50.

Elizabeth Ourusoff de Fernandez-Gimenez, “Giovanni di Paolo: The Life of St. Catherine of Siena,” Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art 54 (1967), pp. 105–07.

Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Central Italian and North Italian Schools (London, 1968), vol. 1, p. 176.

Art Institute of Chicago, Grands Musées 2 (Paris [1968]), pp. 11, 20, ill., 67.

Bernhard Degenhart and Annegrit Schmitt, Corpus der italienischen Zeichnungen, 1300-1450, pt. 1, vol. 2 (Berlin, 1968), p. 320, under no. 240, detail fig. 423.

Frederick Hartt, History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture (Englewood Cliffs and New York, 1969), pp. 312–13; 3d revised edition (New York, 1987).

John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (London, 1970), pp. 26–27.

Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1972), pp. 89, 571.

Katharine Kuh, “These Are a Few of My Favorite Things,” Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine (April 23, 1972), p. 34.

Millard Meiss, “Sts. Elijah and John the Baptist” by Pietro Lorenzetti; “The Baptism” by Giovanni di Paolo, exh. cat. (Princeton University, The Art Museum, 1973), pp. 3–5, fig. 8.

Dizionario enciclopedico Bolaffi dei pittori e degli incisori italiani, vol. 6 (Turin, 1974), p. 56.

Millard Meiss, “A New Panel by Giovanni di Paolo from His Altarpiece of the Baptist,” Burlington Magazine 116, 851 (1974), pp. 73–78, ill.

Regina Shoolman Slatkin, “François Boucher: St. John the Baptist. A Study in Religious Imagery,” The Minneapolis Institute of Arts Bulletin 62 (1975), p. 8.

Marvin Eisenberg, “A Late Trecento Custodia with the Life of St. Eustace,” in Studies in Late Medieval and Renaissance Painting in Honor of Millard Meiss, ed. Irvin Lavin and John Plummer, vol. 1 (New York, 1977), p. 143 n. 1.

Art Institute of Chicago, 100 Masterpieces (Chicago, 1978), pp. 40.

Sotheby’s, Monaco, Beaux tableaux anciens, sale cat. (Sotheby’s, June 13, 1982), under lot. 14.

Enzo Carli and Giulietta Chelazzi Dini, in Il gotico a Siena: Miniature, pitture, oreficerie, oggetti, d’arte, exh. cat. (Siena, Palazzo Pubblico, 1982), pp. 352, 359.

Ellis Waterhouse, “Earlier Paintings in the Earlier Years of the Art Institute: The Role of the Private Collectors,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 10 (1983), p. 90.

Samuel Y. Edgerton, Jr., Pictures and Punishment: Art and Criminal Prosecution during the Florentine Renaissance (Ithaca and London, 1985), pp. 150–152.

Paul Pieper, Die deutschen, niederländischen und italienischen Tafelbilder bis um 1530 (Münster, 1986), pp. 529–35, ill.

John Pope-Hennessy with Larry Kanter, The Robert Lehman Collection, vol. 1, Italian Paintings (New York, 1987), pp. 121–23.

Art Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago 1988), pp. 14–15; reprinted (Chicago, 1999); revised editions (Chicago, 2009), (Chicago, 2013).

John Pope-Hennessy, “Giovanni di Paolo,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 46, 2 (1988), p. 20.

Carl Brandon Strehlke, in Painting in Renaissance Siena, 1420–1500, exh. cat. (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988), p. 216, fig. 1.

Miklós Boskovits with Serena Padovani, The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection: Early Italian Painting, 1290–1470 (London, 1990), p. 113.

Musée Historique des Tissus de Lyon, Edouard Aynard: le fondateur du muse, exh. cat. (Lyon, Musée Historique des Tissus, 1990), pp. 38, 41.

Henk van Os, Sienese Altarpieces, 1215-1460: Form, Content, Function, vol. 2, 1344-1460 (Groningen, 1990), pp. 89, 218 n. 113.

Christopher Lloyd, Italian Paintings before 1600 in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1993,) pp. 110–28, ill, cover ill.

Katharine Baetjer, European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: By Artists Born Before 1865 (New York, 1995), p. 55.

Giovanna Damian, “Giovanni di Paolo” in Dictionary of Art, ed. Jane Shoaf Turner, vol. 12 (London, 1996), p. 716.

Benjamin David, “Pope-Hennessy, Derrida and ‘Literary Residue’ in Visual Images: The Case of Sassetta’s Borgo San Sepolcro Altarpiece,” Studies in Iconography 19 (1998), p. 1.

Elke Anna Werner, Das Kunstwerk des Monats , exh. cat. (Westfälisches Landesmuseumfür Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster, July 1999), no pag. no.

Élisabeth Mognetti and Esther Moench, in Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon, Musée du Petit Palais: Peintures et Sculptures (Paris, 1999), no page no.

Timothy Hyman, Sienese Paintings: The Art of a City-Republic (1278–1477) (New York, 2003), pp. 159, 169–174, fig. 147.

Timothy Bryan Smith, “Alberto Aringheri and the Chapel of Saint John the Baptist: Patronage, Politics, and the Cult of Relics in Renaissance Siena” (Ph.D. diss., Florida State University, 2002), pp. 51–52, 69 n. 150, 343, fig. 87.

Dillian Gordon, National Gallery Catalogues: Italian Paintings, The Fifteenth Century (London, 2003), under nos. 5451–4, pp. 98–99.

N. R. Havely, Dante and the Franciscans: Poverty and the Papacy in the Commedia (Cambridge and New York, 2004), p. 148 n. 58.

Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier, Italian Renaissance: Understanding Its Meaning (Chichester, UK and Malden, Massachusetts, 2013), p. 96.

Exhibition History

New York, F. Kleinberger Galleries, Italian Primitives, 1917, no. 55.

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Loan Exhibition of the Arts of the Italian Renaissance, May 7–September 9, 1923, no. 13.

London, Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of Italian Art, 1200–1900, January–March, 1930, no. 928.

Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–November 1, 1933, no. 85b.

Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–November 1, 1934, no. 29b.

Cleveland Museum of Art, Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition, June 26–October 4, 1936, no. 138.

Art Institute of Chicago, The Children’s Museum, Explanatory Exhibition of the Panels Showing Scenes from the Life of St. John the Baptist by Giovanni di Paolo, 1939 (no cat.).

Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Arts of the Middle Ages, February 17–March 24, 1940, no. 65.

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago’s Dream A World’s Treasure: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1893-1993, 1993, no cat.

Provenance Text

Edourd Aynard, Lyons, by 1907 [see Perkins 1907]; sold Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, December 1–4, 1913 no. 51, to Kleinberger, Paris, as agent for Martin A. Ryerson (died 1932), Chicago, 1914 [an entry for June 18, 1914, in Ryerson’s notebook reads: “Bot [sic] of Kleinberter, Paris, 6 panels by Giovanni di Paolo (purchased by him at Aynard sale for 160 000 fr + 10%);” Art Institute Archives]; on loan to the Art Institute from 1914; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1933.

Publishing Verification Level
Web Cataloged
Internal Department ID
14
Fiscal Year
1933
Is Public Domain
Yes
Is Zoomable
Yes
Max Zoom Window Size
-1
Has Multimedia Resources
Yes
Colorfulness
40.4272
Color H
40
Color L
48
Color S
67
Color Percentage
0.00053092566130583
Color Population
7
Latitude
, 0, 0, 41.8793777995
Lat/Lon
41.8793777995,41.8793777995
Artwork Type Title
Painting
Artwork Type ID
1
Department Title
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Department ID
PC-10
Artist ID
6656
Artist Title
Giovanni di Paolo
Artist IDs 0
6656
Artist Titles 0
Giovanni di Paolo
Category IDs 0
PC-10
Category Titles 0
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Term Titles
["Saint John the Baptist","tempera","panel painting","Renaissance","painting","tempera","Italian","paint","biblical","Christian subjects","Christianity","Devotion","Italy","religious","religious figures","religious scenes","saints","organic material","panel (wood)","plant material","wood (plant material)","painting","painting (image making)","painting techniques","15th century","field","mountain","mountains","men","Jesus","european painting","religion","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs"]
Style ID
TM-5891
Style Title
Renaissance
Style IDs 0
TM-5891
Style Titles 0
Renaissance
Classification ID
TM-9
Classification Title
painting
Alt Classification IDs 0
TM-153
Alt Classification IDs 1
TM-14164
Alt Classification IDs 2
TM-10387
Classification IDs 0
TM-9
Classification IDs 1
TM-153
Classification IDs 2
TM-14164
Classification IDs 3
TM-10387
Classification Titles 0
painting
Classification Titles 1
tempera
Classification Titles 2
Italian
Classification Titles 3
paint
Subject ID
TM-12339
Material ID
TM-2405
Material IDs 0
TM-2405
Material Titles 0
tempera
Technique ID
TM-3975
Alt Technique IDs 0
TM-14210
Technique IDs 0
TM-3975
Technique IDs 1
TM-14210
Technique Titles 0
panel painting
Technique Titles 1
painting
Image ID
9ae944b3-dea5-2db5-f090-c266a7d20ea7
Source Updated At
March 18, 2026 8:09 pm
Updated At
March 18, 2026 11:11 pm
Timestamp
March 18, 2026 11:15 pm
Painting Public Domain

Saint John the Baptist Entering the Wilderness

Giovanni di Paolo
1455–60 • Italy
Tempera on panel

This series of panels illustrates scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist, a prophet who foretold Jesus’s arrival as the Christian savior. The Art Institute’s collection…

View Details
API Model
artworks
Thumbnail LQIP

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAwAFAPMAADs9ND1FPkVBNURCNUdENEZENk5GMEpIO1tNMV1cSl5dTmxhRXduVXZvWAAAAAAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAADAAUAAAQLcIwTFEiEMIPaQhEAOw==

Thumbnail Width
5204
Thumbnail Height
10226
Thumbnail Alt Text
A work made of tempera on panel.
Main Reference Number
1933.1010
Date Start
1455
Date End
1460
Date Display
1455–60
Artist Display
Giovanni di Paolo (Italian, 1398–1482)
Place of Origin
Italy
Description

This series of panels illustrates scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist, a prophet who foretold Jesus’s arrival as the Christian savior. The Art Institute’s collection includes six panels that were originally part of a group of 12 that possibly formed the doors of a reliquary shrine to the saint.

The narrative begins as John leaves civilization, entering the wilderness to become a hermit. In a following scene, John wears a hair shirt, a coarse undergarment symbolizing his ascetic life, as he announces that Jesus is the savior prophesied as the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God. Subsequent panels show John’s imprisonment and violent execution at the hands of Herod, ruler of Galilee. Giovanni di Paolo related the Baptist’s complex biography with expressive figures represented multiple times to indicate their movement through highly imaginative and stylized settings.

Dimensions
68.5 × 36.2 cm (27 × 14 1/4 in.); Framed: 79.4 × 47.7 × 8 cm (31 1/4 × 18 3/4 × 3 1/8 in.)
Dimensions Detail 0 Width
36
Dimensions Detail 0 Height
68
Medium Display
Tempera on panel
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
Publication History

F. Mason Perkins, “Dipinti sconosciuti della scuola senese,” Rassegna d’arte senese 3, 1 (1907), pp. 82–83, ill.

E. Jacobsen, Das Quattrocento in Siena: Studien in der Gemäldegalerie der Akademie (Strasbourg, 1908), p. 50.

Bernard Berenson, The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance, 2d ed. (New York and London, 1909), p. 177.

Paul Schubring, “Opere Sconosciute di Giovanni di Paolo e del Vecchietta,” Rassegna d’arte 12, 10 (1912), pp. 163–64.

J. A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in Italy, 2d ed., vol. 5, ed. T. Borenius (New York, 1914), p. 178 n.

F. Mason Perkins, “Dipinti senesi sconosciuti o inediti,” Rassegna d’arte 14 (1914), p. 163 n. 2.

Paul Schubring, Cassoni: Truhen und Truhenbilder der italienischen Frührenaissance (Leipzig, 1915), vol. 1, pp. 324–25, nos. 445–50; vol. 3, pl. CIV.

Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, and Architecture (Chicago, 1917), p. 165.

Giacomo De Nicola, “The Masterpiece of Giovanni di Paolo,” Burlington Magazine 33, 184 (1918), pp. 45–54, pl. I.

Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University: Collection of Mediaeval and Renaissance Paintings (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1919), p. 121.

Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, Paintings, and Drawings (Chicago, 1920), p. 62.

Carl H. Weigelt, in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, ed. Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, vol. 14 (Leipzig, 1921), p. 135.

Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, and Paintings (Chicago, 1922), p. 71.

Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, and Paintings (Chicago, 1923), p. 71.

Frank Jewett Mather, Jr., A History of Italian Painting (New York, 1923), p. 95.

G. Soulier, Les Influences orientales dans la peinture toscane (Paris, 1924), p. 206.

Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago, 1925), p. 159, no. 2028.

Rose Mary Fischkin, “Two Paintings by Matteo di Giovanni,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 20, 3 (1926), p. 30.

Mary Rose Fischkin, “Martin A. Ryerson Collection of Paintings and Sculpture, XIII to XVIII, Loaned to The Art Institute of Chicago” (unpub. MS. 1926, Ryerson Library, Art Institute of Chicago), pp. 30–34.

Richard Offner, Italian Primitives at Yale University (New Haven, 1927), p. 40.

Raimond van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, vol. 9 (The Hague, 1927), pp. 427–30, fig. 276.

Robert Lehman, The Philip Lehman Collection (Paris, 1928), under no. XLVI.

Kurt Erdmann, “Orientalische Tierteppiche auf Bildern des XIV. und XV. Jahrhunderts: Eine Studie zu den Anfängen des orientalischen Knüpfteppichs,” Jahrbuch der preussischen Kunstsammlungen 50 (1929), p. 283.

Emilio Cecchi, Pietro Lorenzetti (Milan, 1930), p. 27.

Curt H. Weigelt, Sienese Painting of the Trecento (New York, 1930), p. 86 n. 75.

Lionello Venturi, Pitture italiane in America (Milan, 1931), no pag., pl. CXXXVI.

Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance (Oxford, 1932), p. 245.

Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago, 1932), p. 180.

G. H. Edgell, A History of Sienese Painting (New York, 1932), pp. 218–20, figs. 307, 309.

William R. Valentiner, “Paintings in the Collection of Martin A. Ryerson” (unpub. MS [1932], Archives, Art Institute), no pag.

Daniel Catton Rich, “The Paintings of Martin A. Ryerson,” Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 27, 1 (1933), pp. 6–8, ill.

Alfred M. Frankfurter, “Art in the Century of Progress,” Fine Arts 20 (1933), p. 60.

Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Illustrated Guide to the Collections (Chicago, 1935), pp. 20–21, ill.

Hans Tietze, Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika (Vienna, 1935), pp. 37, 325, no. 37, ill.

Bernard Berenson, Pitture italiane del Rinascimento (Milan, 1936), p. 211.

John Pope-Hennessy, Giovanni di Paolo, 1403–1483 (London, 1937), pp. 80–90, pl. XXI.

René Brimo, Art et goût: L’Évolution du goût aux États-Unis d’après l’histoire des collections (Paris, 1938), p. 92.

Robert Langton Douglas, review of Giovanni di Paolo by J. Pope-Hennessy, in Burlington Magazine 72, 418 (1938), pp. 44–47, ill.

Helen F. Mackenzie, “Panels by Giovanni di Paolo of Siena,” Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 32, 7 (1938), pp. 106–09, ill.

John Pope-Hennessy, “Letters: Giovanni di Paolo,” Burlington Magazine 72, 419 (1938), p. 95.

A. Weller, review of Giovanni di Paolo by John Pope-Hennessy, Art Bulletin 20 (1938), p. 126.

Henri Focillon, “The Fantastic in Medieval Art,” Magazine of Art 33, 1 (1940), p. 25, fig. 7.

Alfred M. Frankfurter, “The Mediaeval Style in Painting,” Art News 38, 20 (1940), p. 14, ill.

Cesare Brandi, “Giovanni di Paolo, II,” Le arti 30 (1941), pp. 325–28, 331–32, pl. CXXVII, fig. 42.

Regina Shoolman and Charles E. Slatkin, The Enjoyment of Art in America (Philadelphia and New York, 1942), p. 256, pl. 256.

Peleo Bacci, Documenti e commenti per la storia dell’arte (Florence, 1944), pp. 89–90.

Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1945), p. 28, 29, ill.

H. G. Fell, “The Connoisseur Divan,” Connoisseur 116 (1945), p. 53.

J. Lipman, “The Composite Scene in Primitive Painting,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th ser., 29 (1946), p. 124, fig. 5.

Cesare Brandi, Giovanni di Paolo (Florence, 1947), pp. 44–48, 51–52, 120, fig. 55.

John Pope-Hennessy, Sienese Quattrocento Painting (Oxford, 1947), pp. 9, 13, 27, fig. 13, pls. XXVIII–29.

Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1948), p. 25, ill.

Cesare Brandi, Quattrocentisti senesi (Milan, 1949), pp. 101, 261–62, pl. 149.

Ugo Galetti and Ettore Camesasca, Enciclopedia della pittura italiana, vol. 1 (Milan, 1950), pp. 1164–65, 1167.

Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools (London, 1951), p. 191, under no. 5454; reprinted (London, 1961).

George Kaftal, Iconography of the Saints in Tuscan Painting (Florence, 1952), p. 552.

Art News 51,4 (1952), col. 552.

Mario Salmi, L’arte italiana, vol. 1 (Rome, 1953), p. 431.

Frederick A. Sweet, “La pittura italiana all’Art Institute di Chicago,” Le vie del mondo: Rivista mensile del Touring Club Italiano 15 (1953), pp. 694 (ill.), 696–97.

Enzo Carli, La pittura senese (Milan, 1955), pp. 224, 226, pl. 147.

Marilyn Aronberg Lavin, “Giovannino Battista: A Study in Renaissance Religious Symbolism,” Art Bulletin 37, 2 (1955), pp. 90–91 n. 33.

Enzo Carli, Sienese Painting (Greenwich, Connecticut, 1956), pp. 63–64, pl. 116.

Louis Réau, Iconographie de l’art Chrétien, vol. 2, pt. 1, (Paris, 1956), pp. 442, 450, 452, 455–56, 458.

G. U., “Schede di restauro,” Bollettino dell’Istituto Centrale del Restauro 27–28 (1956), p. 160.

John Pope-Hennessy, “Sassetta and Giovanni di Paolo: The Renaissance in Siena,” Art News Annual 27 (1958), pp. 133, 137, 142, 144–48, 151, 154, 180.

Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), pp. 36, 179, ill.

Enzo Carli, “Problemi e restauri di Giovanni di Paolo,” Pantheon 19 (1961), pp. 163–77.

Ernest T. De Wald, Italian Painting, 1200-1600 (New York, 1961), p. 339, fig. 18.3.

Hans Huth, “Italienische Kunstwerke im Art Institute von Chicago, USA,” in Miscellanea Bibliothecae Hertzianae (Munich, 1961), p. 517.

John Pope-Hennessy, “Giovanni di Paolo,” in Encyclopedia of World Art, vol. 6 (New York, 1962), col. 357, pl. 381.

“The Great Grey City,” Apollo 84 (1966), p. 177.

Frederick A. Sweet, “Great Chicago Collectors,” Apollo 84 (1966), pp. 198, 202, fig. 22.

Victor Lasareff, “Saggi sulla pittura veneziana dei sec. XIII-XIV: La maniera greca e il problema della scuola cretese (II),” Arte veneta 20 (1966), p. 48.

Elizabeth Ourusoff de Fernandez-Gimenez, “Giovanni di Paolo: The Life of St. Catherine of Siena,” Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art 54 (1967), pp. 105–07, fig. 3.

Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Central Italian and North Italian Schools (London, 1968), vol. 1, p. 176.

Art Institute of Chicago, Grands Musées 2 (Paris [1968]), pp. 11, 20, ill., 67.

Bernhard Degenhart and Annegrit Schmitt, Corpus der italienischen Zeichnungen, 1300-1450, pt. 1, vol. 2 (Berlin, 1968), p. 320, under no. 240.

Frederick Hartt, History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture (Englewood Cliffs and New York, 1969), pp. 312–13, ill.; 3d revised edition (New York, 1987).

John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (London, 1970), pp. 26–27, ill.

Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1972), pp. 89, 416, 571.

Katharine Kuh, “These Are a Few of My Favorite Things,” Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine (April 23, 1972), pp. 32, 34, ill.

Millard Meiss, “Sts. Elijah and John the Baptist” by Pietro Lorenzetti; “The Baptism” by Giovanni di Paolo, exh. cat. (Princeton University, The Art Museum, 1973), pp. 3–5.

Dizionario enciclopedico Bolaffi dei pittori e degli incisori italiani, vol. 6 (Turin, 1974), p. 56.

Millard Meiss, “A New Panel by Giovanni di Paolo from His Altarpiece of the Baptist,” Burlington Magazine 116, 851 (1974), pp. 73–78 (ill.).

Regina Shoolman Slatkin, “François Boucher: St. John the Baptist. A Study in Religious Imagery,” The Minneapolis Institute of Arts Bulletin 62 (1975), p. 8, fig. 6.

Marvin Eisenberg, “A Late Trecento Custodia with the Life of St. Eustace,” in Studies in Late Medieval and Renaissance Painting in Honor of Millard Meiss, ed. Irvin Lavin and John Plummer, vol. 1 (New York, 1977), p. 143 n. 1.

Art Institute of Chicago, 100 Masterpieces (Chicago, 1978), pp. 40–41.

Sotheby’s, Monaco, Beaux tableaux anciens, sale cat. (Sotheby’s, June 13, 1982), under lot. 14.

Enzo Carli and Giulietta Chelazzi Dini, in Il gotico a Siena: Miniature, pitture, oreficerie, oggetti, d’arte, exh. cat. (Siena, Palazzo Pubblico, 1982), pp. 352, 359.

Ellis Waterhouse, “Earlier Paintings in the Earlier Years of the Art Institute: The Role of the Private Collectors,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 10 (1983), p. 90.

Samuel Y. Edgerton, Jr., Pictures and Punishment: Art and Criminal Prosecution during the Florentine Renaissance (Ithaca and London, 1985), pp. 150–152.

Paul Pieper, Die deutschen, niederländischen und italienischen Tafelbilder bis um 1530 (Münster, 1986), pp. 529–35, ill.

John Pope-Hennessy with Larry Kanter, The Robert Lehman Collection, vol. 1, Italian Paintings (New York, 1987), pp. 121–23.

Art Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago 1988), pp. 14–15, ill; reprinted (Chicago, 1999); revised editions (Chicago, 2009), (Chicago, 2013).

John Pope-Hennessy, “Giovanni di Paolo,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 46, 2 (1988), p. 20, fig. 23.

Carl Brandon Strehlke, in Painting in Renaissance Siena, 1420-1500, exh. cat. (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988), p. 216, fig. 1.

Miklós Boskovits with Serena Padovani, The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection: Early Italian Painting, 1290–1470 (London, 1990), p. 113.

Musée Historique des Tissus de Lyon, Edouard Aynard: le fondateur du muse, exh. cat. (Lyon, Musée Historique des Tissus, 1990), pp. 38, 41.

Henk van Os, Sienese Altarpieces, 1215-1460: Form, Content, Function, vol. 2, 1344–1460 (Groningen, 1990), pp. 89, 218 n. 113.

Jill Dunkerton, Susan Foister, Dillian Gordon, and Nicholas Penny, Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in The National Gallery (New Haven and London, 1991), p. 278, fig. 25b.

Christopher Lloyd, Italian Paintings before 1600 in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1993) pp. 110–28, ill.

Katharine Baetjer, European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: By Artists Born Before 1865 (New York, 1995), p. 55.

Giovanna Damian, “Giovanni di Paolo” in Dictionary of Art, ed. Jane Shoaf Turner, vol. 12 (London, 1996), p. 716.

Benjamin David, “Pope-Hennessy, Derrida and ‘Literary Residue’ in Visual Images: The Case of Sassetta’s Borgo San Sepolcro Altarpiece,” Studies in Iconography 19 (1998), p. 1, fig. 1.

Elke Anna Werner, Das Kunstwerk des Monats , exh. cat. (Westfälisches Landesmuseumfür Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster, July 1999), no pag. no.

Élisabeth Mognetti and Esther Moench, in Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon, Musée du Petit Palais: Peintures et Sculptures (Paris, 1999), no page no.

Timothy Hyman, Sienese Paintings: The Art of a City-Republic (1278–1477) (New York, 2003), pp. 159, 169–174, fig. 145.

Timothy Bryan Smith, “Alberto Aringheri and the Chapel of Saint John the Baptist: Patronage, Politics, and the Cult of Relics in Renaissance Siena” (Ph.D. diss., Florida State University, 2002), pp. 51–52, 69 n. 150, 343, fig. 87.

Dillian Gordon, National Gallery Catalogues: Italian Paintings, The Fifteenth Century (London, 2003), under nos. 5451–4, pp. 98–99.

N. R. Havely, Dante and the Franciscans: Poverty and the Papacy in the Commedia (Cambridge and New York, 2004), p. 148 n. 58.

Frederick Hartt and David G. Wilkins, History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2006), pp. 368–69, fig. 14.5.

John Wilde, “‘Nature is okay and everything else is questionable’,” in Things of Nature and the Nature of Things, exh. cat. (Madison, Wisconsin, Chazen Museum of Art, 2006), p. 19, fig. 16.

Jacob Wamberg, Landscape as World Picture: Tracing Cultural Evolution in Images, vol. 2 (Aarhus and Oakville, Connecticut, 2009), p. 205, fig. 11.30.

Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier, Italian Renaissance: Understanding Its Meaning (Chichester, UK and Malden, Massachusetts, 2013), pp. 96–97, fig. 4.4.

Exhibition History

New York, F. Kleinberger Galleries, Italian Primitives, 1917, no. 54.

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Loan Exhibition of the Arts of the Italian Renaissance, May 7–September 9, 1923, no. 12.

London, Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of Italian Art, 1200-1900, January–March, 1930, no. 927.

Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–November 1, 1933, no. 85a.

Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–November 1, 1934, no. 29a.

Cleveland Museum of Art, Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition, June 26–October 4, 1936, no. 137.

Art Institute of Chicago, The Children’s Museum, Explanatory Exhibition of the Panels Showing Scenes from the Life of St. John the Baptist by Giovanni di Paolo, 1939 (no cat.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago’s Dream A World’s Treasure: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1893-1993, 1993, no cat.

Provenance Text

Edourd Aynard, Lyons, by 1907 [see Perkins 1907]; sold Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, December 1–4, 1913 no. 51, to Kleinberger, Paris, as agent for Martin A. Ryerson (died 1932), Chicago, 1914 [an entry for June 18, 1914, in Ryerson’s notebook reads: “Bot [sic] of Kleinberter, Paris, 6 panels by Giovanni di Paolo (purchased by him at Aynard sale for 160 000 fr + 10%);” Art Institute Archives]; on loan to the Art Institute from 1914; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1933.

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1933
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Source Updated At
March 18, 2026 8:07 pm
Updated At
March 18, 2026 11:11 pm
Timestamp
March 18, 2026 11:15 pm
Painting Public Domain

Old Man Attended by Visitors

Uzbekistan Bukhara
16th Century • Bukhara
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
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artworks
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Source Updated At
March 18, 2026 8:06 pm
Updated At
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Timestamp
March 18, 2026 11:15 pm