Preaching of St. John the Baptist

Artist: Bartholomeus Breenbergh – c. 1634

This well-preserved picture by Breenbergh, a pioneer of Italianate landscape painting, dates from a few years after his return from Rome to Amsterdam. The subject of Saint John preaching in the wilderness was often employed by Dutch artists as an analogy to Protestant worship when the Netherlands was still ruled by Catholic Spain.

His feast day is June 24.