Saint John the Baptist with four Angels in a landscape, Domenico Gaggini

Episode 132. I’m David Cateforis with another Art Minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. Genoa is not well-known as a center of Renaissance art, but during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries this maritime republic was home to a prominent sculptural relief type that decorated doorways. These soprapporte - rectangular overdoor lintel sculptures - helped to define the cityscape, marking the transitional space between public street and private interior. Many soprapporte depict Saint John the Baptist, whom the Genoese considered a guardian of their city. He is the central subject of a soprapporta in the Spencer collection. Attributed to Domenico Gagini, it is the earliest known of the approximately sixty surviving soppraporte. Wearing his signature garment, a hairshirt, St. John occupies the center of the marble relief, holding the lamb of God, flanked by angels, and surrounded by trees and a rocky ground that spills over the edge of the panel. The carefully rendered details of figures and environment are still well preserved, suggesting that the sculpture was likely placed over an interior doorway protected from harsh sea winds. With thanks to Madeline Rislow for her text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.