Saint John the Baptist in the Desert is an oil painting of c. 1516–1517 by Raphael and his assistants, including Giulio Romano.

Originally on panel, it was transferred to a canvas support in 1777; the practice was quite common in French collections in that period.

[1] Its depiction of John the Baptist as a young boy draws on Michelangelo's ignudi from the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

The background includes the coats of arms of the La Tremouille family and of its commissioner, Adrien Gouffier de Boissy, cardinal and Grand Almoner of France under Francis I.

In 1532 the work was placed in the collegiate church of Saint-Maurice in Oiron by Boissy's nephew Claude Gouffier, husband to a member of the La Tremoille family, meaning that both coats of arms must have been added at that date.