PROVENANCE: Julius Weitzner, London, 1972; BJU, 1972.

Pieter Isaacsz. began his artistic training in Amsterdam but later studied with Hans von Aachen, one of the foremost artists from Prague. He quickly gained exposure to the works of other great artists as he traveled with von Aachen through Italy and Germany. His personal success began with his favored position as court painter to the king of Denmark Christian IV.

The complex arrangement of posed figures along with the vibrant pastel colors seen in this St. John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness is an excellent example of the popular type of mannerist art produced in the Netherlands in the end of the 16th century. Explaining a similar work by the artist in Houston, Edgar Bowron states that Isaacsz. presents John's ministry of preaching in a fashion prescribed by the contemporary theorist Karel van Mander: a busy composition, figures posed in dramatically mannered positions, and the central theme inverted into the far background. Such unusual details as the courtly dress of the figures with exotic headdresses, turbans, and oriental rugs allow the artist to show off his skills and imagination. This fashionable style was attractive to the European courts; Isaacsz. may well have produced this painting while in the service of one of his best patrons, Czech Emperor Rudolf II.

Even though Isaacsz. dressed his figures imaginatively rather than biblically historical, he did accurately include four groups of people that John preached to, as recorded in Luke 3. Jewish religious leaders, publicans, soldiers, and "multitudes" of common people journeyed to the wilderness to see John the Baptist. However, John's preaching was not intended merely to please the crowds who thronged into the desert to hear him. The echoing cry of his ministry, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," demanded a turning from those sins which God's people had long since begun to tolerate-sins entirely inconsistent with the Scriptures.