Collection Online as of May 26, 2022

Saint John the Baptist

c. 1500

attributed to Jan Crocq

(Netherlandish, act. 1486-1510)

French, Lorraine, Nancy or Bar-le-Duc

Tonnerre limestone

Overall: 163 x 59 x 40 cm (64 3/16 x 23 1/4 x 15 3/4 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2017.54

Location

110B Late Gothic

Fun Fact

St. John the Baptist holds a book and a lamb, referencing his description of Christ as "the lamb of God."

Description

John the Baptist was one of the most beloved and widely venerated saints of the Middle Ages. He is depicted here wearing his traditional camel hair fleece beneath a luxuriant outer mantle. The sculpture is attributed to Jan Crocq, a Netherlandish artist active at the court of René II, Duke of Lorraine at Nancy from 1486 to 1510, and noted for his naturalistic treatment of hair and costume.

Jan Crocq

French sculptor, active 1486-1611

Provenance

-1792

By repute from the Sainte-Chapelle, Dijon (before 1792)

Mr. E. Ingels, Belgium, late 1800s

-1928

Bela Hein (1883-1931), Paris, sold to Brummer Galleries, New York

1928-1933

Brummer Galleries, New York, NY, sold to The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art

1933-1991

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, (after 1983 known as The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art), inv. no. 33-69

1991

De-Accessioned by the Nelson-Atkins in 1991; sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 1 June 1991, lot 18

1991-2014

Private collection, Belgium, sold at auction at Sotheby's, London

2014

Sotheby’s, London (July 10, 2014), lot 67

2014-2017

Sam Fogg, London sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art

2017-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts. Handbook of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art. Kansas City, Mo: [The Joseph D. Havens Co.], 1933. p. 72

The Brummer Gallery Records. Cloisters (Museum), n.d. P05733 libmma.contentdm.oclc.org

“The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art”, Art News XXXII, no. 10, 1933 p. 50

William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Mo. The William Rockhill Nelson Collection. [Kansas City, Mo.]: [Chas. E. Brown Print. Co.], 1940. . p. 89, fig. 8

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The William Rockhill Nelson Collection. Kansas City, Mo: [Chas. E. Brown Print. Co.], 1949. p. 112

Nelson Gallery Foundation. Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri. 1959. p. 54

Griswold, William M. “Recent Acquisitions (2013-20) at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Burlington Magazine 163, no. 1414 (January 2021): 93-104. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 94, no. 1; mentioned: P. 93

Exhibition history

Recent Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-June 7, 2018).