An Italian bronze figure of Saint John the Baptist, late 16th century, probably Venice

Sotheby's London, April 22, 1982, lot 215

Various origins for the present model have been proposed by Bode, Wixom, Pope-Hennessy and others.  The suggestion that it is indebted to Jacopo Sansovino is most plausable, and while the origin of the design remains unclear, it seems likely that the known casts originate in mid-16^th century Venice.

RELATED LITERATURE

W. Wixom, Renaissance Bronzes from Ohio Collections, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1975, no. 32
A. Radcliffe (et. al.), The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection: Renaissance and Later Sculpture, London, 1992, no. 26