Italian school of the 18th century."Saint John Baptist".Alabaster.Measurements: 37 x 10 cm.Alabaster sculpture representing St. John the Baptist in full body, wearing the camel skin sackcloth, one of his main attributes. By the posture of his hands, he was probably accompanied by an Agnus Dei, to which he points, following the usual iconography of St. John next to the lamb of God. The figure is worked in rounded bulk, and belongs to a period of transition between Baroque and Neoclassicism. The Gospels say that John the Baptist was the son of the priest Zechariah and Elizabeth, cousin of the Virgin Mary. He retired very young to the desert of Judea to lead an ascetic life and preach penance, and recognized in Jesus, who was baptized by him, the Messiah announced by the prophets. A year after the baptism of Christ, in the year 29, John was arrested and imprisoned by the tetrarch of Galilee Herod Antipas, whose marriage with Herodias, his niece and sister-in-law, he had dared to censure. Finally St. John was beheaded, and his head given to Salome as a reward for his beautiful dances. This saint appears in Christian art with two different aspects: as a child, Jesus' playmate, and as an adult, an ascetic preacher.