St. John the Baptist

Description: A full-figure, almost full, cut-back, and hollow depiction of a standing St. John the Baptist with a lamb at his side, set on a console suspended on a pillar. A prominent console, decorated from the front with a massive volute cartouche preceded from the bottom with a kind of suspended grooved “shell” (this element has not survived to the time of the latest conservation and has been reconstructed on the model of the original ones visible in other figures). Side cartouche decorated with leaves; in its center an oval plaque with a golden inscription on a red background: “In honorem | S. JOAN[N]IS BAP: | TISTAE.” Above the cartouche, the upper part of the console, polygonal, profiled in the form of a cornice, covered with brown marbling. On the upper surface of the console, there is an additional base for the figure in the form of a thick plate. Next to this slab, on the upper part of the console, there are small elements partly connected with the sculpture, conventionally marking the landscape: on the left (from the viewer) you can see a small tree and rocks (in the form of polygonal blocks of stone), on the right, rocks that “approach” mountains and connect with similar rocks already placed on the base for the figure, under the left foot of the saint and the left leg of the lamb; even more to the right, against the background of the church wall, there is a tree with a very long thin trunk ending at the top with a not very prominent crown of leaves – these rather limited motifs (frail trees, rocks) are undoubtedly meant to present the wilderness where St. John lived. The saint is in a dynamic pose, with his whole figure turned slightly to the left (heraldically), with the left leg bent at the knee, extended forward and the foot resting on the rocks – therefore situated slightly higher than the right foot. The right leg is straightened, partly withdrawn to the left, and covered with the robe of the saint. Both feet bare. The saint’s head is turned in the same direction as his body, slightly tilted. The face of a middle-aged man, intended by the sculptor rather young, is elongated, with deeply carved features, a long nose, and a wrinkled forehead. The saint’s hair is thick, in curls, long, falling at the back to the neck (a single lock also at the front on the left shoulder). From below, the face is framed by medium-long stubble. The saint in his left hand moved aside from the body, the hand visible at chest height, holds a cross with a very long lower arm, positioned diagonally and resting on the base of the figure. Wrapped around the top of the cross is a white ribbon with the words “ECCE AGNVS DEI” in gold. With the right hand held by the saint in front of the height of the hips, John touches the head of the lamb climbing towards him by his left leg. The saint is dressed in tangled robes revealing part of the body: a muscular torso (in the middle of a tuft of hair?) and a left leg above the knee. Trouser robes with a course that is difficult to trace. The outer garment is a robe of camel hair thrown over the forearms. A sculpture in white color of polished ground with small golden elements: on a console with the edges of volute forms of a cartouche and some small leaves; on the saint’s robe of camel’s wool with edging; moreover, the cross and the lamb’s hooves are golden. The rocks (ground) at the foot of the saint and the base of the trees are brown.

History: The figure is one of nine sculptures of saints placed on the initiative of the Jesuits in 1710 on consoles hung on the pillars of the nave. Each of the sculptures was funded by a different person – the execution of the figure of St. John the Baptist was financed by the Świdnica councilor Sommerfeld in memory of the chapel dedicated to this saint located at the Archery Gate.

Characteristics: To refer to the Catholic, medieval past of Świdnica, the Jesuits decided that each figure would represent the patron of one of the chapels placed at the gates leading to the city. One of the chapels dedicated to St. John the Baptist is not surprising, because he was one of the most popular saints in the history of the Church. St. John, born shortly before Christ, the miraculously conceived son of the elderly Zacharias and Elizabeth (probably a relative of Jesus’ Mother), stayed as a hermit in the Judean Desert in the Holy Land. Regarded by Jesus as his immediate predecessor, he baptized Christ. Imprisoned around 32 CE. Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee (given by the Romans), was sentenced to death by beheading as a result of the intrigues of his wife Herodias. St. John, at the request of Jesus, baptized him in the Jordan River – the so-called. John’s baptism is not equivalent to the baptism used later in the Church. It is a symbol of the transformation in Christ’s life and the beginning of his mission. St. John is recognizable thanks to his physiognomy (long hair, which he did not cut), poor clothing (a rough robe made of camel hair was the clothing of the poor), and thanks to the figure of the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei – as St. John called Jesus, referring to the Old Testament tradition of the lamb as a sacrifice submitted to God). Finally, it is worth adding that St. John is also revered by the followers of Islam as one of the prophets in selling the most important – Muhammad.