Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 06-24-14, SOL, Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, Mass/Day

USCCB.org/RNAB ^ | 06-24-14 | Revised New American Bible

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Birth of the Baptist (panel of the south doors)

Andrea Pisano

1330
Gilt bronze
Baptistry, Florence

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The Birth of St John the Baptist and the Baptism of Christ


c. 1420
Illumination on parchment
Palazzo Madama, Turin

The illumination of the page (93 v.) depicts the Birth of St John the Baptist and the Baptism of Christ. The former shows St Elizabeth in her lying-in room after the birth of St John the Baptist. Beyond Elizabeth fully furnished room, which includes attendants, a child, and a couple of household pets, are two smaller rooms; in the first, well-windowed one St Zacharias is seated writing his son's name in a book (Like 1:57-63), and in the second there is a woman seen from the rear - she may be washing up.

The Turin-Milan Hours, whose illustrations scholars once attributed to Jan van Eyck, combines superb landscapes, accurate, spatially correct interiors, and ornamental borders familiar from the work of Jean Pucelle.

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Birth and Naming St John

Fra Filippo Lippi

1452-65
Fresco
Duomo, Prato

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St John Altarpiece (left panel)

Rogier van der Weyden

1455-60
Oil on oak panel, 77 x 48 cm
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

The left panel depicts the Naming of John the Baptist.

Elisabeth lies in bed in the background after giving birth, while the pregnant Mary, the future mother of Jesus, brings the newborn child to his father Zacharias. Zacharias had been struck dumb for his doubts when an angel told him, during service in the temple, that he was to be the father of a son (this scene is shown in the lowest archivolt relief on the left). He therefore has to write down the name of the child. Mary, as the more important saint, is distinguished from Zacharias and Elisabeth by her aureole.

The side panels of the St John Altarpiece do not merely show the beginning and end of the Baptist's earthly life. The parallels between the pictorial motifs also express moral conflict. On the left, the chaste Virgin Mary holds the newborn baby in her arms; she and Zacharias are looking at one another gravely, aware of the significance of the event.

(Source)

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The Birth of St John the Baptist

Luca Signorelli

1485-90
Wood, 31 x 70 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

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Birth of St John the Baptist

Domenico Ghirlandaio

1486-90
Fresco, width 450 cm
Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

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Zacharias Writes Down the Name of his Son

Domenico Ghirlandaio

1486-90
Fresco, width 450 cm
Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

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Birth of St John the Baptist

Tintoretto

c. 1563
Oil on canvas, 270 x 204 cm
San Zaccaria, Venice

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Birth of St John the Baptist

Artemisia Gentileschi

c. 1635
Oil on canvas, 184 x 258 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid