The times of religious upheaval and need for urbanization following the Renaissance gave rise to the production of sumptuous works of art during the Baroque era in Italy. Characterized by intense emotion and dynamism, Baroque art reflected the power of Roman antiquity but represented the renewed piety of Roman Catholics. The opulent urbanization projects sponsored by the church culminated in the verisimilitude of Baroque paintings. A painting that reflects this change is the Preaching of St. John the Baptist by Mattia Preti, also known as Il Calabrese. Preti was born in 1613 in Taverna, Calabria, to a modest family with ecclesiastical connections. Preti traveled extensively around Italy and was exposed to works of art by the likes of Correggio, Mantegna and Raphael. As with other artists of the Baroque era, his oil painting depicting the preaching of St. John the Baptist, executed in 1665, has a distinct Caravagesque style. It exemplifies Italian Baroque art through dramatic and lively presentation of subject matter, extreme attention to naturalism, and monumental composition. The painting depicts a young Saint John the Baptist preaching to his congregation. St. John is an important figure in Catholicism not only for his preaching and baptisms in the Jordan River, but for his role as the last prophet and precursor of Jesus Christ. His preaching predicts the coming of Christ as the Messiah, and after Christ's baptism, the voice from heaven told St. John that Jesus was the son of God. This passage by Calabrese captures John at the height of his prayer. Fixed atop a decrepit tree trunk but struggling with stability, John is shown here in his ascetic attire composed of camel hair, holding his staff and a scroll bearing the words "Ecce Agnus Dei", which translates to Beho...... half of paper ......St. John of Brese was executed half a century after The Deposition, it is clear that Caravaggio heavily influenced its creation. Baroque trends translated differently in some parts of Europe. In Italy, it reflected the return of intense piety through dense ecclesiastical decoration, complex architecture, and dynamic painting. Calabrese's work displays the combined artistic stimuli of the 17th century and culminates in the acquired Caravagesque style that alters the way paintings were composed from that point on. Performed at the height of Calabrese's most creative phase, the Preaching of St. John the Baptist indicates the monumentality of urbanization change as well as the return of Catholic permanence in the 1600s. Aside from the baroque power of the artwork, St. John of Calabrese is a piece worth gravitating towards and recalls the grandiose excesses of Baroque art.