Saint John the Baptist in a landscape could be described as an already-known work within Maíno’s oeuvre. Two other versions of this composition have been published, both of which are characterised by the use of an evening light that bathes the gentle hill strategically located in the background that is so characteristic of this artist’s work, as is the inclusion of plants and shrubs, rushing torrents of water and trees with slender trunks and transparent foliage. The first of the previously-known examples was published by Enriqueta Harris in 1935 when it was in an unidentified Madrid collection, though its present whereabouts is now unknown. More recently, in 1992 Pérez Sánchez published a second version that is in Malaga Cathedral. Again painted on copper and of slightly smaller size, it is undoubtedly a summary copy of the previous one.

A comparison between this rendering from a Madrid private collection and the one published by Harris suggests that the one here is a second version with small variations. In this panel Maíno slightly modifies the illumination of the sky to create the feeling of a nocturnal scene. He alters the placement of the halo, which is less visible to the viewer, and adds a very subtle touch of light to the outline of Saint John’s head. Moreover, the folds of the saint’s drapery lying on the ground are more broken, less emphatic. In addition, in this copper Maíno develops the right side of the composition to a greater degree, which allows him to include the depiction of the reed cross with the scroll heralding Christ as the Saviour (Ecce Agnus Dei). The cross is presented lying at an angle and propped against a small cluster of stones, projecting the shadow of its longest arm along the ground. This distinctive and characteristic manner of breaking up the parallel pictorial planes is also found in Maíno’s Saint John the Baptist in Basel.

Ruíz Gómez, Leticia, Juan Bautista Maíno, 1581-1649, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2009, p.78-82