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Title

The Baptism of Christ

Flandes, Juan de (Posible procedencia de los Países Bajos, ca. 1465 - Palencia, ca. 1519)

Generic classification
Painting
Object
Painting
Date
1508-1519
Century
Cultural context / style
Flemish painting
Dimensions
48 7/8 x 31 1/8 in
Material
Panel
Technique
Oil Painting
Provenance
Church of San Lázaro in Palencia (Palencia, Spain)
Current location
The National Gallery of Art, Washington (Washington, United States)
Inventory Number in Current Collection
1961.9.25
Object history

This panel was part of a larger ensemble of which there is no certainty as to the number of paintings or where they would be displayed. In addition to the other three that are preserved in the National Gallery of Washington of the same set (Annunciation, Nativity and Adoration of the Kings), the Resurrection of Christ preserved in the Soumaya Museum in Mexico, and the four in the Museo Nacional del Prado with the themes of the Resurrection of Lazarus, Prayer in the Garden, Ascension of Christ and Pentecost were also part of the same altarpiece.

It is one of the four panels by Juan de Flandes that entered the National Gallery of Washington from the old altarpiece of St. Lazarus in Palencia. It was commissioned to Juan de Flandes by Sancho of Castile, who was Prince Don Juan's ayo, to decorate the chapel where he was to be buried. In the 18th century, the altarpiece was very deteriorated and was replaced by another one where six of Juan de Flandes' panels are included. Unfortunately, this one was not among them (Justi 1887). In 1952, it appeared in the Frederick Mont Gallery in New York. On February 11, 1953, it was acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in New York and given to the National Gallery in Washington in 1961.

Description

In the center of the scene, the naked, full-length Jesus receives the baptism of water in the Jordan River by his cousin, St. John the Baptist. It is at that moment that a voice from heaven signals that Jesus is the one chosen by God as the Messiah, and at that moment Jesus receives the Holy Spirit. Juan de Flandes places God the Father on high, and the dove of the Holy Spirit on the head of Jesus. It is the first time in which the Trinity is represented in a linear form.

Juan de Flandes offsets the scene on the right by placing an angel in the foreground, which balances the figure of St. John. The same harmonious sense is observed in the choice of tones: red, white and greenish blue, highlighting the main figures against a landscape of blue and grayish tones. Juan de Flandes blurs the profile of a city in the background that merges with the sky, while he recreates nature in a precise way in the fishes swimming in the river, or in the small precious stones that he likes to place in his scenes as in the Adoration of the Kings of Cervera de Pisuerga (Palencia).

* The relative location of dealers, antique shops, art galleries, and collectors leads us to the places where they were based or had one of their main headquarters. However, this does not always indicate that every artwork that passed through their hands was physically located there. In the case of antique dealers and art merchants, their business often extended across multiple territories; sometimes they would purchase items at their origin and send them directly to clients. Similarly, some collectors owned multiple residences, sometimes in different countries, where they housed their collections. It is often difficult to determine exactly where a specific piece was kept during its time in their possession. Consequently, the main location of the dealer or collector is indicated. These factors should be considered when interpreting the map. Refer to the object's history in each case.
Bibliography
  • (1959): Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, p. 266.
  • BERMEJO, Elisa (1962): Juan de Flandes, Instituto Diego Velázquez, del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, pp. 28-31.
  • BRANS, Jan V. L. (1953): "Juan de Flandes, pintor de la Reina y de Castilla", vol. 4, nº 21, Clavileño, pp. 29,32.
  • DE COO, Josef y REYNAUD, Nicole (1979): "Origen del retablo de San Juan Bautista atribuido a Juan de Flandes", nº 52, Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueologia, pp. 140-141.
  • EISLER, Colin (1977): Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian, Phaidon Press Ltd, Oxford, pp. 187-188.
  • GAYA NUÑO, Juan Antonio (1958): La pintura española fuera de España (historia y catálogo), Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, p. 148.
  • HAND, John Oliver (2004): National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington and New York, p. 59.
  • Hand, John Oliver y Wolff, Martha (1986): Early Netherlandish Painting. The Colletions of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue, Washington, pp. 125-133.
  • JUSTI, Carl (1887): "Juan de Flandes, ein niederländischer Hofmaler Isabella der Katholischen", Jahrbuch der königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, p. 167.
  • JUSTI, Carl (1908): Miscellaneen aus drei Jahrhunderten spanischen Kunstlebens, vol. 1, Grote, Berlín, p. 324.
  • LURIE, Ann Tzeutschler (1976): "Birth and Naming of St. John the Baptist Attributed to Juan de Flandes: A Newly Discovered Panel from a Hypothetical Altarpiece", nº 63, Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, p. 127.
  • MARTÍNEZ RUIZ, María José (2021): "Arcadio Torres Martín y sus negocios al servicio del tráfico de obras de arte desde España a Estados Unidos", nº 374, Archivo Español de Arte, pp. 148-149.
  • MAYER, August L. (1909): "Studien zur Quattrocento-malerei in Nordwestkastilien", nº 32, Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, p. 519.
  • POST, Chandler Rathfon (1933): A History of Spanish Painting, vol. 4, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts), pp. 45,50.
  • POST, Chandler Rathfon (1958): A History of Spanish Painting, vol. 12 (The Catalan School in the Early Renaissance), nº 2, Harvard University Press, Cambdrige (Massachusetts), pp. 615,618,620.
  • SILVA MAROTO, Pilar (2006): Juan de Flandes, Caja Duero, Salamanca, pp. 427-431.
  • VAN PUYVELDE, Leo (1962): La peinture flamande au siècle de Bosch et Breughel, Elsevier, París, p. 353.
  • VANDEVIVERE, Ignace (1967): La cathèdrale de Palencia et l'église paroissiale de Cervera de Pisuerga, Centre National de Recherches Primitifs Flamands, Bruselas, pp. 44-47.
  • WENIGER, Matthias (2011): Sittow, Morros, Juan de Flandes. Drei Maler Aus Dem Norden Am Hof Isabellas von Kastilien, Ludwig, Kiel, pp. 250-254.
Citation:

Ana Diéguez Rodríguez, "The Baptism of Christ" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/221

Bautismo de Cristo

National Gallery of Art. Public Domain

National Gallery of Art. Public Domain

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