John the Baptist (Caravaggio) Jordan, and was eventually killed by Herod Antipas when he called upon the king to reform his evil ways. John was frequently shown in Christian art, identifiable by his bowl, reed cross, camel's skin and lamb. The most popular scene prior to the Counter-Reformation was of John's baptism of Jesus, or else the infant Baptist together with the infant Jesus and Mary his mother, frequently supplemented by the Baptist's own mother St Elizabeth. John alone in the desert was less popular, but not unknown. For the young Caravaggio, John was invariably a boy or youth alone in the wilderness. This
John the Baptist to the Master to ask – "Are you 'the coming one,' or are we to look for some one else?" When these men found Jesus, they said: "John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask – 'Are you 'the coming one,' or are we to look for somebody else?'" At that very time Jesus had cured many people of diseases, afflictions, and wicked spirits, and had given many blind people their sight. So his answer to the question was: "Go and report to John what you have witnessed and heard – the blind recover their sight, the lame