Collection
/
American Art

Study for "The Beheading of St. John the Baptist"

Charles Sprague Pearce

1 of 2

Object Label

The expatriate artist Charles Sprague Pearce masterfully exploited the textured paper surface and powdery charcoal medium to create this beautifully modeled head study for a now-lost monumental painting (see illustration). Details such as the figure’s protruding collarbone, bags under the eye, and stoic gaze convey the character of Saint John the Baptist as a man whose faith remains unshakable in the face of physical suffering and imminent death.

Caption

Charles Sprague Pearce (American, 1851–1914). Study for "The Beheading of St. John the Baptist", ca. 1881. Crayon on paper, sheet: 6 1/8 × 7 in. (15.6 × 17.8 cm) frame: 15 3/8 × 20 3/8 × 1 3/4 in. (39.1 × 51.8 × 4.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Sidney M. Katz, 85.243.2. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

American Art

Title

Study for "The Beheading of St. John the Baptist"

Date

ca. 1881

Medium

Crayon on paper

Classification

Drawing

Dimensions

sheet: 6 1/8 × 7 in. (15.6 × 17.8 cm) frame: 15 3/8 × 20 3/8 × 1 3/4 in. (39.1 × 51.8 × 4.4 cm)

Signatures

Signed in charcoal, lower left: "CSP" [in monogram]

Inscriptions

Inscribed on recto lower left in charcoal: "Fragment"; on verso in center in graphite: "Decollation du St Jean / Baptiste / Charles Sprague Pearce"

Credit Line

Gift of Sidney M. Katz

Accession Number

85.243.2

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Artists and makers

Charles Sprague Pearce

2 works in the collection