The Birth of John the Baptist is a fresco painting by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448–1494), created in 1486. Measuring 450 × 215 cm, it depicts the biblical scene from Luke 1:57-66. This painting is housed at Santa Maria Novella, Piazza della Stazione, Florence.
Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son.
Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her.
On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
His mother answered, “Not so; but he will be called John.”
They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.”
They made signs to his father, what he would have him called.
He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is John.” They all marveled.
His mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God.
Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea.
All who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, “What then will this child be?” The hand of the Lord was with him.