The Infant St John in the Wilderness

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-82)
oil on canvas
144 x 108cm

The attribution has never been questioned. The 'San Juanito' theme was a favourite with Murillo, comparable to that of the Infant Christ as the Good Shepherd with which it is sometimes paired. Luke I. 80 is the scriptural authority for setting the child with his lamb in a mountainous terrain, watched over by cloudborne cherubim but otherwise not visibly protected; and this composition resembles in reverse the Prado Good Shepherd. In style the Boughton picture is close to Murillo's work c. 1670.

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