He stands in the river.
Bible in art · Matthew
The Baptism of Christ in the Jordan
Lucas van Leyden · c. 1510
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Lucas van Leyden engraved this plate around 1510. He put the main event in the middle distance and filled the front with onlookers — a bold choice for his time.
In the river Jesus stands in the water, and John, in a rough garment, bends toward him from the bank. In front of them, people in long coats, turbans and fur collars watch and talk, some half hidden by trees. A child sits at the water’s edge.
From the text
- Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John (Matthew 3:13)
- People went out to John from Jerusalem and all Judea (Matthew 3:5)
- “As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water” (Matthew 3:16)
The artist’s own
- The baptism small in the distance, the crowd large in front
- Onlookers in Netherlandish clothes and Eastern turbans
- A child at the water’s edge and a castle on the hill
Details
Jesus
John
In a rough garment, he bends forward on the bank.
Onlookers
An old man with a long beard and fur collar watches.
A child
A child sits at the water’s edge.
Lucas van Leyden, Netherlandish, c. 1489/94–1533. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.5619) · Engraving · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)