The Baptism of Christ in the River Jordan
Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, c. 1494-1533)
about 1510
- Medium
- Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
- Classification
- Dimensions
- Image/sheet, trimmed within platemark: 14.3 × 18.2 cm (5 11/16 × 7 3/16 in.)
- Culture
- Netherlands
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Prints and Drawings
- Credit line
- Clarence Buckingham Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Lucas van Leyden’s inverted staging of Christ’s baptism differs significantly from the Martin Schongauer engraving seen nearby. While Schongauer placed the important action in front of a rocky landscape, Lucas concealed it in a forest grove, instead emphasizing the onlookers and the small child at the bottom, who gestures toward Christ. Lucas often used this pictorial device to reset expectations about the subject of his prints, lingering on the costumes and characterizations in the foreground. Here, his avoidance of haloes, heavenly hosts, and the anachronistic volume consulted by Schongauer’s John turn the baptism into a more commonplace event.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
