Baptism of Christ (Titian)

Baptism of Christ
MediumOil on panel
Dimensions115 cm × 89 cm (45 in × 35 in)
LocationCapitoline Museums, Rome
AccessionPC 41

The Baptism of Christ (Italian: Battesimo di Cristo) is a religious painting by Titian, dated to about 1512, in the collection of the Capitoline Museums, Rome.[1]

Description

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In the Baptism of Christ, John the Baptist (top left) rests on Jesus (centre), and the donor, the Venetian Giovanni Ram (bottom right), whom the artist was obliged to introduce into the picture, is connected by a glance with the patron Saint.[2] According to Ricketts, in 1910 the picture was "darkened in part", but the condition was "otherwise good".[3]

  • The picture in its frame
    The picture in its frame
  • Detail (top left)
    Detail (top left)
  • Detail (centre)
    Detail (centre)
  • Detail (bottom right)
    Detail (bottom right)

Date

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Titian painted the Baptism of Christ at the end of his Giorgionesque period, about 1510 to 1512.[4] Though the picture is described by Marc Antonio Michiel (the Anonimo Morelliano), who saw it, in 1531, in the house of Giovanni Ram (Messer Zuan Ram), the donor of it, it is not accepted by Crowe and Cavalcaselle, but ascribed to Paris Bordone.[4][5] Morelli restored it to Titian.[4]

Analysis

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I think that owing to a certain slightness in the conception of this work, the majority of writers on Titian have been tempted to under-estimate an intense idyllic charm, which in a painting by Giorgione would have been praised as a virtue. As a work of art it is characterised by that singular mansuetude of conception and neo-pagan blitheness of which Titian had the secret. The entranced gesture of Giovanni Ram aids in this impression. Surely nothing could heighten the tender gravity of this face, watching what might seem otherwise but some Theocritean idyll.

Ricketts, Titian, p. 42.

Gronau and Ricketts both compare the figure of John in the Baptism of Christ (Gallery of the Capitol, Rome),—who kneels, supporting himself by his hand, and in this attitude, the upper part of his body bending forwards, completes the act of baptism,—with the figure of the shepherd in the Adoration of the Shepherds (National Gallery, London), "a more noble figure than the shepherd," says Gronau, "but bearing to him, we might say, the strongest family likeness."[6] The same figure recurs in the Three Ages (Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh).[6][5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Musei Capitolini.
  2. ^ Gronau 1904, p. 33.
  3. ^ Ricketts 1910, p. 181.
  4. ^ a b c Gronau 1904, p. 295.
  5. ^ a b Ricketts 1910, p. 42.
  6. ^ a b Gronau 1904, p. 31.

Sources

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  • Gronau, Georg (1904). Titian. London: Duckworth and Co; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 10, 31–33, 295.
  • Ricketts, Charles (1910). Titian. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. pp. 42–43, 181, plate xxii.
  • "Battesimo di Cristo". Musei Capitolini. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
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