Icon with St John the Baptist
- Gallery: Room 40
- Culture: Late Byzantine
- Made in: Constantinople
- Date: 1300 (circa)
- Object type: icon
- Materials: wood; linen; gold; gesso
- Museum number: 1986,0708.1
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
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About this object
Before you is a Late Byzantine icon depicting "Icon with St John the Baptist." The image is painted in egg tempera with gold leaf on a wooden panel, covered with gesso and linen, and edged with a raised border.
St John appears as a calm and noble figure, slightly turned to his right. He wears a green mantle and a red tunic over a hair shirt, with a scroll held in his left hand and a blessing gesture in his right. His halo features two concentric circles inscribed into the gold background. Greek inscriptions on either side name him as "St John" and "the Forerunner."
Despite his dishevelled hair and long beard, his presence is strong and lifelike, created through careful modelling against the gold background. The icon likely dates to around 1300 and comes from Constantinople.
This work reflects the grand style of Byzantine art and offers a striking image of St John the Baptist, blending spiritual depth with artistic mastery.
See it in person
Icon with St John the Baptist is on display in Room 40 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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