The forerunner: works featuring St John the Baptist fetched
large sums at auction earlier this month. Top picture:
St John the Baptist Preaching to the Masses in the
Wilderness, an oil-painting by Pieter Brueghel, went for
£1,161,250. Below: an Italian maiolica charger depicting
the saint's birth in a Renaissance setting, thought to be by
Urbino, was sold for £457,250
