Full title | The Baptism of Christ: Predella Panel |
---|---|
Artist | Giovanni di Paolo |
Artist dates | active by 1417; died 1482 |
Series | Baptist Predella |
Date made | 1454 |
Medium and support | Egg tempera on wood |
Dimensions | 31 x 45 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought with a contribution from the Art Fund, 1944 |
Inventory number | NG5451 |
Location | Room 52 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
Christ stands in a river, the water up to his waist. John the Baptist pours a cup of water over his head, baptising him. As he does, God the Father appears in the sky, surrounded by angels, while a dove, the symbol of the Holy Ghost, descends towards Christ in golden rays.
The scene reflects John’s report of the event found in the Gospel of John: ‘I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him.’
The artist was inspired by the Florentine sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, who made two sculpted scenes of Christ’s baptism in bronze. The symmetry of this scene resembles the one that Ghiberti made to decorate the doors of the Florence Baptistery. The poses and gestures look like those in the scene Ghiberti made for a baptismal font in Siena – where Giovanni di Paolo worked.
Christ stands naked in the middle of the river Jordan; the water reaches his waist and we can see faint ripples against his legs. John the Baptist, wearing a red robe over his camel-skin tunic, pours a bowl of water over Christ’s head, baptising him. Two wingless angels stand on the bank; one has a white robe – it probably belongs to Christ – slung over his shoulders.
Christ’s baptism is considered the beginning of his ministry and the moment that his work and teachings received divine authority. This painting comes from a series of panels that tell the story of the life of John the Baptist, which once formed a predella.
John preached that he was sent by God to baptise – here we see God the Father in the sky above Christ, surrounded by angels. The orange wings that frame him belong to seraphim, divine creatures who guard his throne. Beneath God, descending towards Christ in golden rays, is a dove, the symbol of the Holy Ghost. The scene reflects John’s testimony of what happened when he baptised Christ: ‘I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.’ (John 1: 32–4).
Scenes of John the Baptist were more common in Florence, where he was patron saint, than in Siena, where Giovanni di Paolo came from. The symmetrical design of this panel shows that the artist was inspired by the works of the Florentine sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, who had made a scene of Christ’s baptism to decorate the doors of the Florence Baptistery. In it, Christ stands in the middle of the river framed by figures on the banks on either side. Giovanni di Paolo almost certainly visited Florence in the 1430s, where he would have seen the doors.
The arrangement and poses of the figures closely resemble another sculpted bronze panel by Ghiberti, made for the baptismal font of Siena Cathedral, which Giovanni di Paolo would certainly have known.
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The Baptism of Christ: Predella Panel
Baptist Predella
These four panels once formed part of a predella, the lowest part of an altarpiece. Together they tell the story of the life of John the Baptist, the prophet who preached the coming of Christ as the Messiah.
Events run from left to right like a comic strip. At the far left edge was a scene showing John’s birth, followed by his departure into the wilderness and then the baptism of Christ – the main event in John’s life. Another panel, which may have shown John preaching in the wilderness, would have followed, but this did not enter the National Gallery’s collection with the other panels and we don't know where it is now. The final scene shows the saint after his execution.
The predella was probably part of an polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) made by Giovanni di Paolo for the Augustinian church in Cortona.
These four panels once formed part of a predella of a polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece). Together they tell us about the life of Saint John the Baptist, with each scene representing a different significant story. Although the scenes were painted on a continuous piece of wood, after the altarpiece was dismantled the predella was cut into individual panels.
The scenes were arranged in chronological order from left to right. At the far left edge was John’s birth, followed by his departure into the wilderness, then the baptism of Christ – the main event in John’s life. This would have been followed by a scene which may have depicted John preaching in the wilderness, to match his departure for the wilderness, but it did not enter our collection with the other panels and its whereabouts is unknown. The final scene shows the saint after his execution, his head on a platter. Some of the scenes were separated by borders painted with a floral design but this only survives on one of our panels.
Predella panels usually celebrated the life of one or more of the saints shown on the main part of the altarpiece. We don‘t know for sure which altarpiece this predella was made for, but one suggestion is a polyptych showing the Virgin and Child with saints by Giovanni di Paolo (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). One of the saints is Augustine, so it may have been made for the church of an Augustinian friary. The presence of John the Baptist on the main altarpiece – he stands at the Virgin’s right side, the most honourable position – and the predella with scenes from his life mean that it was most likely placed on an altar in a chapel dedicated to him.
Giovanni di Paolo made a number of works for Augustinian patrons in and around Siena. This altarpiece might have been in the church of Sant’Agostino (Saint Augustine) in Siena, where a chapel dedicated to John the Baptist was founded in 1439, but the New York altarpiece came from a private collection of works mainly from Cortona. The Augustinian church in Cortona was being rebuilt in the 1430s, and in the 1450s a man called Zaccaria di Matteo degli Bencivenni left money in his will for the construction of a chapel dedicated to John the Baptist. It’s possible that the altarpiece was made for that chapel; it would explain the prominence of Saint Zacharias, Zaccaria di Matteo degli Bencivenni’s patron saint, in the first panel showing the birth and naming of John the Baptist.
Giovanni di Paolo often reused his designs for pictures. These panels are very similar to another, more extensive, series of pictures painted with scenes from John the Baptist’s life, which are now housed in collections all over the world. They are almost identical to our panels; they differ only in scale and format (they are larger and have a vertical – tall and narrow – shape) and in certain small details, such as the figures' gestures. They were probably painted after our panels but they show how once the artist had found a satisfactory design, he was happy to reuse it for a different commission.




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