San Giovanni Battista 

Curator: This tempera on panel by Luca di Tommè is titled "San Giovanni Battista." Editor: It's an imposing figure! There's a certain starkness, an unyielding gaze that meets the viewer directly. Curator: Indeed. Note how the composition is structured—the elongated vertical format emphasizing John’s erect posture, the drapery arranged to lead the eye upwards, culminating in his raised hand with the delicately rendered flame. Editor: The flame as symbol of the holy spirit. I see also the scroll which I imagine carries sacred texts. Then there’s the rugged garb of animal skin which tells us of John as a hermit, set apart in the wilderness. This work synthesizes prevailing visual conventions around depictions of sainthood and prophetic call. Curator: Yes, precisely. Also examine the handling of color. The muted greens and rose juxtapose against the radiant gold ground, creating depth but also reinforcing a hieratic sensibility that negates three-dimensionality. Note also the texture and materiality evident within the gilded portions that establish the visual structure through pattern. Editor: And while that gold background may flatten the pictorial space, it elevates John from a mere mortal to the realm of the divine. The austere frontal pose gives John tremendous presence. What of his cross-emblazoned cloak? It makes one consider a melding of hermetic tradition with the nascent power of institutionalized Christianity. Curator: Consider how those various signs add to an architectural quality: color planes constructing space but undermining the illusion simultaneously. It presents the painting as a carefully considered formal construction, not just representational image. Editor: I leave this pondering on the symbolic function of material reality within systems of belief, as explored so expertly in di Tommè’s artwork. Curator: An important distinction indeed, the convergence of materiality, surface, and structure creating the sublime!