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Giovanni di Paolo
The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

A headless figure leans out of the first-floor window of a light-colored stone building from which two iron bars have been detatched, his blood spurting to the ground. A figure bends to collect the head while another looks away to sheath a long sword. From right, a robed man beholds the guesome scene.

The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

Giovanni di Paolo · 1455–60

View at the AIC ↗

Palette

Stone
57% of the image
Grey · text contrast 6.9:1

Taupe
20% of the image
Gold & ochre · text contrast 5.4:1

Graphite
11% of the image
Brown · text contrast 11.2:1

Caramel
6% of the image
Brown · text contrast 4.4:1

Slate
4% of the image
Grey · text contrast 8.2:1

Blue-grey
2% of the image
Blue · text contrast 4.7:1

Colours measured by this site from the museum image (k-means in CIELAB). Names are the nearest in our own list and describe how the colour looks, not the pigment. Text on each chip uses whichever of black or white contrasts more (WCAG ratio shown). How

Details

Artist: Giovanni di Paolo
Date: 1455–60
Type: Painting
Medium: Tempera on panel
Size: 68.6 × 39.1 cm (27 × 15 3/8 in.); Framed: 82 × 53.4 × 7 cm (32 1/4 × 21 × 2 3/4 in.)
Place: Italy
Period: Renaissance · 15th century
Themes: Bible stories and saints
Main colour: Grey · lightness 54, colourfulness 13

Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection. Museum record. Public domain: the museum's is_public_domain field read true when we last checked (2026-10-27); image released under CC0. Licence rules