This image of John the Baptist shows the saint in his hermit period. Rather than depict a typical ecclesiastical recluse, however, the artist conflates the saint’s body with a heroic male nude: John appears as a muscled youth inspired by Greek statuary. The choice, however, to wed this well-chiseled body to an atypically waifish head could be read as a corporeal reflection of John’s strength and power as derived from Christian tenets, and artistically as a picture of pure human beauty. (BR)