AUTHOR: Francesco Da Ponte known as Francesco Bassano
CENTURY: XVI°
CHURCH: Church of San Giacomo dall’Orio
DATE: 1570 ca.
POSITION: new sacristy – front wall (on map n°11)
METHOD: oil painting on canvas
The painting The Preaching of St John the Baptist was painted by Francesco Bassano and his collaborators taken on by the rich merchant, Gaspere Dolzoni.
In the 1800s, Zanotto recognised members of the Bassano family among those listening, a theory that although fascinating can not be verified due to the lack of a comparative source.
The theme of The Preaching is not done without a certain antiprotestant polemical trace: the reformed painters wanted to carry out the same theme representing an exclusively working-class audience, reconnecting to the German wanderer figures from the sixteenth-century, not incorporated in the church hierarchy.
Bassano, on the other hand, represents both nobles and common people, intending that the message given by Baptist is universal.
This painting should be placed in close relation to the more conventional piece realised by Francesco’s father, Jacob representing the same subject and composition; today conserved in the Marostica (Vicenza).
