The Bible In Paintings: THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

[Hebrews 11:6]

The Bible In Paintings 2
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR APPRECIATING AND APPLYING GOD'S WORD

THE BIRTH OF
JOHN THE BAPTIST

L U K E
CHAPTER 1

When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

1
TINTORETTO
"The Birth of John the Baptist"

2
TINTORETTO
"Birth of St John the Baptist"

3
HUBERT or JAN VAN EYCK
"Birth of Saint John the Baptist"

4
DETAIL
Source

5
JEAN FOUQUET
"The Birth of St John the Baptist"

6
ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI
"Birth of St John the Baptist"

7
PIETRO LIBERI
"The Birth of St John the Baptist"

8
LUCA SIGNORELLI
"The Birth of St John the Baptist"

9
DOMENICO GHIRLANDAIO
"The Birth of St. John the Baptist"

10
JUAN DE FLANDES
"The Birth and Naming of John the Baptist"

11
ANDREA PISANO
"Birth of the Baptist"

12
LUCAS CRANACH the Elder
"The Birth of John the Baptist"

13
SANO DI PIETRO
"Saint John the Baptist"

14
MASSIMO STANZIONE
"The Birth of John the Baptist"

15
PAUL GAUGUIN
"The Birth and Naming of Saint John the Baptist"

16
JERONIMO VICENTE VALLEJO COSIDA
"Birth of Saint John Baptist"

17
ANDREA SACCHI
"The Birth of Saint John the Baptist"

18
GIOVANNI DI TURINO
"Birth of the Baptist"

19
LUDOVICO CARRACCI
"The Birth of John the Baptist"

20
"Birth of John the Baptist"

21
"Birth of John the Baptist"

22
Source

23
Source

24
BARTOLOMÉ ESTEBAN MURILLO
"The Birth of John the Baptist"

25
ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN
"John the Baptist"

26
Source

27
ANDREA SACCHI
"Birth of John the Baptist"

28
LUCA GIORDANO
"Birth of St John the Baptist"

On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”

Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

29
PONTORMO
"The Birth of John the Baptist"

30
GIULIANO BUGIARDINI
"The Birth of St John the Baptist"

31
Neapolitan School
"The Birth of Saint John the Baptist"

32
GIOVANNI BARONZIO
"The Birth, Naming, and Circumcision
of Saint John the Baptist"

33
"Circumcision of John the Baptist"

34
"Circumcision of John the Baptist"

35
"Birth of John the Baptist"

36
FRA ANGELICO
"Imposition of the Name on the Baptist"

37
FRANCESCO SOLIMENA
"The Naming of St John the Baptist"

38
DOMENICO GHIRLANDAIO
"Zacharias Writes John's Name"

His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
    because he has come and has redeemed his people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
    in the house of his servant David
(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
salvation from our enemies
    and from the hand of all who hate us—
to show mercy to our fathers
    and to remember his holy covenant,
    the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
    and to enable us to serve him without fear
    in holiness and righteousness before him all our
    days.

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the
    way for him,
to give his people the knowledge of salvation
    through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
    by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
    and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

→ a n d... f i n a l l y ←

And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.

39
JAMES TISSOT
"The Childhood of Saint John the Baptist"

New International Version ©1984, EMPHASES Added
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[Hebrews 11:6]

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[Hebrews 11:6]

THE BIRTH
OF JOHN
THE BAPTIST

[HighSierra5]

How close was John’s birth to Jesus’s?

[left that other site]

Good Morning, Dan. :-)

[Hebrews 11:6]

When Gabriel accosts Mary and announces her pregnancy, he adds that Elizabeth is in the sixth month of her own pregnancy. So, assuming both were full-term gestations, John’s birth preceded Jesus’ by about five-and-one-half months.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Mary-Lou! Always a pleasure to hear from you.

[Red Badger]

About 25 miles..........................

[Red Badger]

Notice, he wasn’t John the Methodist.......................

[Hebrews 11:6]

John the Preparer....................

[Hebrews 11:6]

Red Badger awakened me to the thought that your question is geographic rather than chronologic. Which is it?

[smartymarty]

I’m under the impression it was about the months difference. (The baby leapt in the womb of Elizabeth when Mary came in Elizabeth being about 6
mos)

[smartymarty]

Three months maybe.

[Red Badger]

Since John’s father was a priest in Jerusalem we can assume he lived there as well, but not necessarily, since priestly duties rotated, so he could have lived near Nazareth where Mary lived and stayed in Jerusalem only while performing his duties as a priest.

Distance from Bethlehem to Jerusalem is about 5 and a half miles.

Distance from Nazareth to Jerusalem is about 64.5 miles..........

[Red Badger]

In Luke and Acts
Main article: Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

The Gospel of Luke adds an account of John’s infancy, introducing him as the miraculous son of Zechariah, an old priest, and his wife Elizabeth, who was past menopause and therefore unable to have children. According to this account, the birth of John was foretold by the angel Gabriel to Zechariah while he was performing his functions as a priest in the temple of Jerusalem. Since he is described as a priest of the course of Abijah and Elizabeth as one of the daughters of Aaron, this would make John a descendant of Aaron on both his father’s and mother’s side. On the basis of this account, the Catholic as well as the Anglican and Lutheran liturgical calendars placed the feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist on 24 June, six months before Christmas.

[InkStone]

Good Morning Dan, and greetings to all.

The Word of God shines forth, as John the Immerser prepares the way for the greatest event in human history...

Thank you Dan; these paintings are very busy with many actions- nursing, caring for Elizabeth, writing, even a bird feeding and a dog sitting in a chair! Are those things symbolic? Etabeta would know. Every artist depicts this great event in similar ways.

May He open our eyes to all things we need to see...

[Hebrews 11:6]

John the Immerser

Very clever, Leon.

I will address that on November 4 when we cover John's baptism of Jesus, and the way almost all artists have portrayed it not as immersion but as dribbling. Grrrrrr.......

[NorthMountain]

The canticles of Mary (yesterday's thread) and Zecharia (today's thread) feature prominently in the "Liturgy of the Hours", a Scriptural devotion popular in some Christian communities.

[NorthMountain]

Grrrrrr.......

Although these threads are technically "open" as understood in the FR Religion Forum, they have been remarkably free of interdenominational nastiness. May I humbly suggest that this is a "Good Thing" and that we should all do our best to keep it that way?

[etabeta]

Netherlandish painting always!
The Ghirlandaio fresco, at #9, is exceptional, part of a series of frescoes commissioned for the Tornabuoni Chapel of Santa Maria Novella Church in Florence. The Tornabuoni were very important members of the Florentine society, very influential. Elisabeth is resting in bed while two wet nurses share the care of baby John. Neighbors arrive, a noble woman with her entourage bringing a gift of fruits. They are members of the Tornabuoni family. The movement of the lady carrying the platter contrasts with the stillness of part of the scene. The ladies enters with a dignified and somber stance. It is speculate that the lady in pink is a young Tornabuoni girl who had died in childbirth at age 15 and remembered in this fresco.
Exquisite bronze at #18 by Giovanni di Turino and the wood carving at #23.

[Hebrews 11:6]

The canticles...feature prominently in...a Scriptural devotion popular in some Christian communities.

And well they should--thanks for your link.

My personal attitude toward them is evident in my highlighting of them. They are unsurpassed in Scripture, in my view--how could they be, focusing as they do on the Almighty?