Saint John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness
- Date
- c.1660
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- made in
- Rome, Lazio region, Italy, Europe
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- European Art to 1800
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 236
- Dimensions
- 79 x 48 in. (200.7 x 121.9 cm)
framed: 93 7/8 x 62 11/16 x 3 7/8 in. (238.4 x 159.2 x 9.8 cm) - Credit Line
- Friends Endowment Fund
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 72:1970
NOTES
Painted on a vertical canvas like an altarpiece, this scene depicts St. John the Baptist preaching to a crowd about how to prepare for Jesus’s impending arrival. The shimmering water alludes to John’s role as the baptizer of Jesus, and the children playing at the river’s edge illustrate the idea of baptism as a form of rebirth. Characteristic of his style, Salvator Rosa surrounded the composition with looming trees set against a moody sky and “blasted” trees in the foreground, while figures pose on jagged rocks like actors on a stage.
Provenance
- 1704
Monsignor Giovanni Battista Costaguti (d.1704), Rome, Italy [1]
1704 - still in 1715
Marchese Luigi Costaguti, Piazza Mattei, Rome, Italy, inherited from Monsignor Costaguti [2]
by 1781 - 1786
Humphrey Morice, Lord Warden (1723-1785), the Grove, Chiswick, Middlesex, England [3]
1786 - 1953
John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham (1724-1812), Ashburnham Place, Sussex, England; George Ashburnham, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham (1760-1830), by inheritance; Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878), by inheritance; Bertram Ashburnham, 5th Earl of Ashburnham (1840-1913), by inheritance; Lady Mary Catherine Charlotte Ashburnham (1890-1953), by inheritance [4]
1953/06/24 - 1954
Koetser Gallery (David Koetser), London, England; Zurich, Switzerland; New York, NY, USA, purchased from the sale of the Ashburnham collection, Sotheby's, London, June 24, 1953, lot nos. 42 and 43 [5]
1954 - still in 1956
Walter P. Chrysler Jr., New York, NY, acquired from David Koetser [6]
- 1970
E. V. Thaw & Co., Inc. (Eugene Victor Thaw), New York, NY
1970 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from E. V. Thaw & Co., Inc. [7]
Notes:
The pendant to the St. Louis painting, "St. Philip Baptizing the Eunuch," oil on canvas, 79 x 48 in. (200.6 x 121.9 cm) is in the collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia. The two paintings share the same provenance until Walter P. Chrysler Jr.'s ownership, when "St. John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness" was sold by E. V. Thaw & Co., Inc. to the Saint Louis Art Museum.
[1] According to Lione Pascoli, Filippo Baldinucci, and Bernardo de'Dominici, Monsignor Costaguti commissioned both paintings from Salvator Rosa. The precise date of the commission is not known, however it must have occurred before Rosa's death in 1673 [Baldinucci, Filippo. "Notizie de' professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua, per le quali si dimostra come, e per chi le bell' arti di pittura, scultura e architettura, lasciata la rozzizza delle maniere greca e gotica, si siano in questi secoli ridotte all'antica loro perfezione." XIX, 1681 (2nd edition, Florence, 1773, p. 12); Pascoli, Lione. "Vite de' pittori, scultori, ed architetti." Vol. I. Rome, 1730, p. 67 (Reprint: Roma: Stampato in calco-offsett dallo Stab. artic grafiche E. Calzone, 1933); De'Dominici, Bernardo. "Vite de' pittori, scultori, ed architetti Napoletani." Vol. III, Naples, 1742, p. 227 (Reprint: Bologna: Forni Editore, 1979, vol. 2)].
[2] The Getty Provenance Index lists the paintings as being owned by Marchese Luigi Costaguti, who presumabley inherited the painting, in a January 31, 1715 ["The Getty Provenance Index Databases," accessed March 25, 2005, <>]. By 1746, it seems that the paintings were no longer in the Costaguti collection since it does not appear in an inventory of the Costaguti collection titled: "Sinopsi Costaguta, 1746" [Salerno, Luigi. "Salvator Rosa." Milano: Edizioni per il club del libro, 1963, p. 112].
[3] In 1781, Horace Walpole noted that the two paintings were in the collection of Humphrey Morice during a trip to Middlesex [Walpole, Horace. "Horace Walpole's Journals of Visits to Country Seats." Ed. by Paget Toynbee. "Walpole Society Publications" XVI (1928), p. 77]. According to the 1953 sales catalogue for the Ashburnham collection, Humphrey Morice brought the two paintings from Italy to England ["The Ashburnham Collections, Part I: Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings of the Continental Schools," Sotheby's, London, June 24, 1953, lot nos. 42 and 43].
[4] The 1953 sales catalogue (see note [2]) mentions that John Ashburnham purchased Morice's entire collection in 1786. The lineage of the family and the inheritance of the collection are outlined in the preface of the auction catalogue and in Ashburnham Archives ["The Ashburnham Archives." Ed. by Francis W. Steer. Lewes: The East Sussex County Council, 1958].
[5] A 1956 publication lists the paintings as being owned by Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. at this time. The catalogue entry also mentions that the two paintings were acquired from David Koetser by Chrysler in 1954 ["Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr." Portland: Portland Art Association, 1956, p. 32, cat. no. 36].
[6] See note [5]. The painting most likely remained in the Chrysler collection until it was sold to the Museum in 1970, since its pendant, "St. Philip Baptizing the Eunuch" was given to the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virgina, in 1971 [Wallace, Richard W. "Salvator Rosa in America." Wellesley: Wellesley Collecge Museum, 1979, pp. 17, 93].
[7] Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, City Art Museum, June 25, 1970.
Monsignor Giovanni Battista Costaguti (d.1704), Rome, Italy [1]
1704 - still in 1715
Marchese Luigi Costaguti, Piazza Mattei, Rome, Italy, inherited from Monsignor Costaguti [2]
by 1781 - 1786
Humphrey Morice, Lord Warden (1723-1785), the Grove, Chiswick, Middlesex, England [3]
1786 - 1953
John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham (1724-1812), Ashburnham Place, Sussex, England; George Ashburnham, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham (1760-1830), by inheritance; Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878), by inheritance; Bertram Ashburnham, 5th Earl of Ashburnham (1840-1913), by inheritance; Lady Mary Catherine Charlotte Ashburnham (1890-1953), by inheritance [4]
1953/06/24 - 1954
Koetser Gallery (David Koetser), London, England; Zurich, Switzerland; New York, NY, USA, purchased from the sale of the Ashburnham collection, Sotheby's, London, June 24, 1953, lot nos. 42 and 43 [5]
1954 - still in 1956
Walter P. Chrysler Jr., New York, NY, acquired from David Koetser [6]
- 1970
E. V. Thaw & Co., Inc. (Eugene Victor Thaw), New York, NY
1970 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from E. V. Thaw & Co., Inc. [7]
Notes:
The pendant to the St. Louis painting, "St. Philip Baptizing the Eunuch," oil on canvas, 79 x 48 in. (200.6 x 121.9 cm) is in the collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia. The two paintings share the same provenance until Walter P. Chrysler Jr.'s ownership, when "St. John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness" was sold by E. V. Thaw & Co., Inc. to the Saint Louis Art Museum.
[1] According to Lione Pascoli, Filippo Baldinucci, and Bernardo de'Dominici, Monsignor Costaguti commissioned both paintings from Salvator Rosa. The precise date of the commission is not known, however it must have occurred before Rosa's death in 1673 [Baldinucci, Filippo. "Notizie de' professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua, per le quali si dimostra come, e per chi le bell' arti di pittura, scultura e architettura, lasciata la rozzizza delle maniere greca e gotica, si siano in questi secoli ridotte all'antica loro perfezione." XIX, 1681 (2nd edition, Florence, 1773, p. 12); Pascoli, Lione. "Vite de' pittori, scultori, ed architetti." Vol. I. Rome, 1730, p. 67 (Reprint: Roma: Stampato in calco-offsett dallo Stab. artic grafiche E. Calzone, 1933); De'Dominici, Bernardo. "Vite de' pittori, scultori, ed architetti Napoletani." Vol. III, Naples, 1742, p. 227 (Reprint: Bologna: Forni Editore, 1979, vol. 2)].
[2] The Getty Provenance Index lists the paintings as being owned by Marchese Luigi Costaguti, who presumabley inherited the painting, in a January 31, 1715 ["The Getty Provenance Index Databases," accessed March 25, 2005, <
[3] In 1781, Horace Walpole noted that the two paintings were in the collection of Humphrey Morice during a trip to Middlesex [Walpole, Horace. "Horace Walpole's Journals of Visits to Country Seats." Ed. by Paget Toynbee. "Walpole Society Publications" XVI (1928), p. 77]. According to the 1953 sales catalogue for the Ashburnham collection, Humphrey Morice brought the two paintings from Italy to England ["The Ashburnham Collections, Part I: Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings of the Continental Schools," Sotheby's, London, June 24, 1953, lot nos. 42 and 43].
[4] The 1953 sales catalogue (see note [2]) mentions that John Ashburnham purchased Morice's entire collection in 1786. The lineage of the family and the inheritance of the collection are outlined in the preface of the auction catalogue and in Ashburnham Archives ["The Ashburnham Archives." Ed. by Francis W. Steer. Lewes: The East Sussex County Council, 1958].
[5] A 1956 publication lists the paintings as being owned by Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. at this time. The catalogue entry also mentions that the two paintings were acquired from David Koetser by Chrysler in 1954 ["Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr." Portland: Portland Art Association, 1956, p. 32, cat. no. 36].
[6] See note [5]. The painting most likely remained in the Chrysler collection until it was sold to the Museum in 1970, since its pendant, "St. Philip Baptizing the Eunuch" was given to the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virgina, in 1971 [Wallace, Richard W. "Salvator Rosa in America." Wellesley: Wellesley Collecge Museum, 1979, pp. 17, 93].
[7] Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, City Art Museum, June 25, 1970.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.