Landscape with St John the Baptist 

Juan Bautista Maíno painted ‘Landscape with St John the Baptist’ during the Spanish Golden Age, a period marked by religious and political tensions. Maíno himself navigated multiple identities as both a Dominican friar and a court painter. Here, the familiar Biblical figure of John the Baptist is almost camouflaged amidst the serene landscape. Seated on a rock, draped in a red cloth, he gazes out at the expansive scene with his lamb at his side. It's a surprisingly intimate portrayal given the religious context. This work invites contemplation on the intersection of the spiritual and the earthly. Rather than emphasizing John's holiness, Maíno grounds him in the natural world, blurring the lines between the divine and the everyday. He asks us to find the sacred in the ordinary.