Episode 10 | Power and Judgment | Saint John the Baptist: From Birth to Beheading

John the Baptist's proclamations on justice meant that he was often adopted by rulers as a patron saint and role model. According to some traditions John descended to the underworld after his death to prepare the souls for the Last Judgment, and so artists often represent him in scenes of the Harrowing of Hell. In this final episode art historian Jennifer Sliwka and theologian Ben Quash visit Westminster Abbey to discover how the 14th century English king, Richard II, had a particular devotion to the saint before returning to the National Gallery to see how this was expressed in one of the greatest treasures of the collection, 'The Wilton Diptych', about 1395-9.

At Westminster Abbey we see the anonymous 'English Portrait of Richard II', about 1390 and at the National Gallery Giovanni dal Ponte's 'Ascension of Saint John the Evangelist Altarpiece', about 1420-4? and 'The Wilton Diptych', about 1395-9.

'John the Baptist: From Birth to Beheading' is a series of 10 films sharing the highlights of the collaborative MA course taught by Dr Jennifer Sliwka, Howard and Roberta Ahmanson Fellow in Art and Religion at the National Gallery and Professor Ben Quash, Director of the Centre for Arts and the Sacred, King's College London.
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