St. John the Baptist

The refinement of the Neapolitan carvers

The sculpture depicting Saint John the Baptist, in marble with signs of gilding, is preserved in the church of Sant'Andrea, although its original location is not known.

Proof of the circulation of models and works of Neapolitan taste in Puglia during the sixteenth century, the statue was ascribed to the so-called "Caccavello-D'Auria society", that is, that association of sculptors who, upon the death of the famous master Giovanni da Nola, took care of the main commissions both in Naples and in the Kingdom. It was recently attributed to Giovan Domenico D'Auria alone.

The success of this representation of the precursor, with the lamb in his arms and a book in his hand, seems rather long-lasting in Barletta. In the choir, the figure of Saint John the Baptist clearly takes as a model, even decades after its execution, the sculpture attributed to D'Auria.

 

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Scheda scientifica sul San Giovanni Battista