Collection Online as of January 29, 2023

Young Saint John and the Lamb

c. 1680–1700

probably by Giuseppe Piamontini

(Italian, 1664–1742)

Italy, Florence, 17th century

Bronze

Overall: 43.2 x 33 x 25.4 cm (17 x 13 x 10 in.)

Bequest of James Parmelee 1940.586

Location

301 Baroque Sculpture Mezzanine

Description

John the Baptist is often accompanied by a lamb as a sign of his intimacy with Christ, the Lamb of God. The depiction of children embracing animals is a motif from antiquity that Piamontini would have known.

Provenance

James Parmelee, 1855-1931 (Washington, DC), upon his death, held in trust by the estate.

Estate of James Parmelee, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1940.

Citations

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 133 archive.org

Exhibition history

"Art of the Seaway Nations, East Ohio Gas Company, Cleveland, CMA, May 11, 1959.

CMA 1971: Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage, July 13 - Sept. 19, cat. no. 40, repr.

CMA 1982: The Age of Bronze, July 13-October 17, 1982, no cat.

Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 29, 1971-January 2, 1972).