TO UNDERSTAND THE SCENE

What you can see in this picture……

John the Baptist baptizes Jesus in the Jordan. On the right, John the Baptist is clothed like a shepherd; he leans on his stick and pours water on Jesus’ head. The latter wears a simple loin-cloth; he is standing on the bank of the river, with his feet in the water, and bowing down as a sign of humility.

Behind them, two angels carry some linen, a book… Be careful to avoid an easy misinterpretation. Some angels are often on the bank with linen in their hands; it is as if they were waiting for the end of the bath! In fact this is the oriental tradition of veiling one’s hands as a sign of respect.

At the top centre, the heaven opens to reveal a dove; this is the dove of the Holy Ghost.

John the Baptist is an adult, an ascetic living in the desert. He normally wears a loin-cloth in camel’s hairs but he is rather represented as a shepherd wearing a sheep’s or a goat’s skin that leaves a part of his body naked.

...and in other pictures

Jesus is baptized by John but the representation has evolved according to two models due to the religious practice of Christian baptisms.

Jesus is at first baptized by immersion; that is to say he is plunged whole into the Jordan River or into a cistern; which corresponds to the practice of antique Christianity and to the meaning of the Greek verb “baptizein”, which means “to plunge”. But the practice fell into disuse and artists had to introduce another representation.

Jesus is baptized by aspersion; he is on the bank of the Jordan River and John the Baptist pours water only on his head. In the baptism by immersion, John imposes his hands whereas with the aspersion he pours some water from a jug or with his fingers.

This scene is an “epiphany” or manifestation of God. He is present under the form of a dove representing the Holy Ghost but God the Father can also appear at the top of the scene. The Father, the dove of the Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ are then in the same divine vertical line uniting the heaven and the earth. John the Baptist then sees his role diminish.

With the Renaissance, the baptism of Christ tended to become a bath scene after the antique. One can sometimes find a personification of the river in the foreground. The Counter-Reformation called for a more religious interpretation either by emphasizing the humility of the kneeling Christ, or by stressing his majesty when he appears as Son of God with some great importance given to light and the dove of the Holy Ghost.

TO UNDERSTAND THE SCENE

FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS