St. John the Baptist

This marble statuette, representing Saint John the Baptist is made after Matteo Civitali, in Lucca, in the second half of the 15th century.

Matteo Civitali was the only major Tuscan marble sculptor active outside Florence in the later 15th century. He appears to have been trained in Florence in the Rossellino studio. With a few exceptions all his major works were executed for his native town of Lucca. In the last years of his life he made an important series of statues for the Chapel of the Baptist in the Duomo at Genoa, which was interrupted by his death in 1501.