The Baptism of Christ
ca. 1650
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Overall 59 3/4 x 46 1/2 in. (151.8 x 118.1 cm); painted surface (oval) 59 1/8 x 45 1/2 in. (150.2 x 115.6 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, George T. Delacorte Jr. Gift, 1974
Accession Number
1974.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
Sébastien Bourdon's *The Baptism of Christ*ca. 1650) captures a pivotal biblical moment: John the Baptist pouring water over Jesus in the Jordan River, with angels bearing witness above. This oil-on-canvas painting, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the French Baroque master's skill in dramatic religious scenes. Bourdon, who trained in Paris and Rome, drew from Caravaggesque tenebrism—intense contrasts of light and shadow—to heighten the divine revelation, as a beam of heavenly light illuminates Christ amid swirling figures. The oval format of the painted surface (59 1/8 x 45 1/2 ...
About the Artist
Sébastien Bourdon · 1616–1671
Sébastien Bourdon (1616–1671) was a French Baroque painter of remarkable versatility and restless ambition, whose career carried him from the workshops of Paris to the courts of Rome and Stockholm before he returned to France to become a founding member of one of Europe's most important artistic institutions. Born on 2 February 1616 in Montpellier into a Protestant family, Bourdon was apprenticed ...