There is, however, a number of paintings in which a non-scriptural, non-hagiographic “device” is found--i.e., a red garment or red drape. The appearance of a red garment or drape on or about the body of the saint is encountered so frequently as it assumes the role of a symbol.¹ After the two renderings of St. John the Baptist (1528) by Andrea del Sarto (See illustration below), the use of red seems to be de rigueur for the depiction of St. John the Baptist in the XVI^th Century through first half of the XVII^th Century. With the famed Caravaggio red becomes the hallmark of his various interpretations of St. John the Baptist.² All but two of the numerous paintings of the saint attributed to him--i.e., St. John the Baptist (a. 1590), Basle, and St. John the Baptist at the Well (1608) Bonelli Collection, Valletta--Caravaggio employs a red garment or drape as a prominent feature.