Baptism of Christ (Titian)

Painting by Titian

Baptism of Christ

Artist| Titian
Year| c. 1512
Medium| Oil on panel
Dimensions| 115 cm × 89 cm (45 in × 35 in)
Location| Capitoline Museums, Rome
Accession| PC 41

The Baptism of Christ (Italian: Battesimo di Cristo) is an oil on panel religious painting by Titian, dated to c. 1512\. It is held in the collection of the Capitoline Museums, in Rome.[1]

## Description

[edit]

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

* Detail (top left)

* Detail (centre)

* Detail (bottom right)

## Date

[edit]

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

[edit]

> 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]

* Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1510

* Three Ages of Man, c. 1512–1514

## See also

[edit]

* List of works by Titian

## References

[edit]

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

[edit]

* 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.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Baptism of Jesus Christ by Titian at Wikimedia Commons

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Titian

* List of works

Portraits|

* Jacopo Pesaro being presented by Pope Alexander VI to Saint Peter (1503–1506)
* A Man with a Quilted Sleeve (c. 1509)
* La Schiavona (1510–1512)
* A Man
* New York, c. 1512)
* (Indianapolis, c. 1515
* Shepherd with a Flute (c. 1510–1515)
* A Man in a Red Cap (c. 1510–1515)
* A Sick Man (1515)
* A Knight of Malta (c. 1515)
* Jacopo Sannazaro (c. 1514–1518)
* Gian Giacomo Bartolotti da Parma (c. 1515-1518)
* Vincenzo Mosti (c. 1520)
* Young Woman in a Black Dress (c. 1520)
* Man with a Glove (c. 1520)
* Laura Dianti (c. 1520–1525)
* Alfonso I d'Este (1523)
* A Lady (c. 1525–1565)
* Federico II Gonzaga (c. 1529)
* Giacomo di Andrea Dolfin (c. 1531–1532)
* Alfonso d'Avalos with a Page (1533)
* Charles V with a Dog (1533)
* Ippolito de' Medici (1532–1533)
* Giacomo Doria (1533–1535)
* Charles V (1533–1535)
* Isabella d'Este (1534–1536)
* La Bella (1536)
* Girl in a Fur (1536–1538)
* Count Antonio Porcia and Brugnera (c. 1535–1540)
* A Man with a Falcon (c. 1525-1537)
* Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere (1538)
* Francesco Maria della Rovere (1536-1538)
* Cardinal Pietro Bembo (1539–1540)
* Benedetto Varchi (c. 1540)
* Pope Sixtus IV (c. 1540)
* A Young Englishman (1540–1545)
* Ranuccio Farnese (c. 1542)
* Clarissa Strozzi (1542)
* The Vendramin Family (1543–1547)
* Pietro Aretino (1545)
* Lavinia Vecellio (c. 1545)
* Pope Paul III (1545–1546)
* Pope Paul III with Camauro (1545–1546)
* Pope Paul III and His Grandsons (1545–1546)
* Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (c. 1545–1546)
* Pier Luigi Farnese (1546)
* Andrea Gritti (c. 1546–1550)
* Equestrian Portrait of Charles V (1548)
* Charles V (seated) (1548)
* Isabella of Portugal (1548)
* John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (c. 1550–1551)
* A General (c. 1550)
* Philip II in Armour (1551)
* Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo (1552)
* Philip II (1554)
* Woman Holding an Apple (c. 1550–1555)
* Girl with a Platter of Fruit (c. 1555–1558)
* Fabrizio Salvaresio (1558)
* An Unknown Lady (c. 1550–1560 – also attributed to Titian's workshop)
* Jacopo Strada (1567–1568)
* A Lady in White (c. 1561)

Self portraits|

* Self-Portrait (1546–1547)
* Self-Portrait (c. 1560)

Secular|

* Detroit Trio (c. 1500 – also attributed to Giorgione and others)
* The Birth of Adonis (c. 1506–1508)
* The Legend of Polydoros (c. 1506–1508)
* Justice (c. 1508)
* Pastoral Concert (c. 1509 – also attributed to Giorgione)
* Dresden Venus (with Giorgione, c. 1510)
* The Lovers (c. 1510 – attributed)
* The Three Ages of Man (c. 1512–1514)
* Sacred and Profane Love (c. 1514)
* The Feast of the Gods (1514)
* Venus and Cupid (1510–1515)
* Lucretia and her Husband Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus (1515)
* The Bravo (c. 1515)
* Flora (c. 1515)
* Vanity (c. 1515)
* Violante (c. 1515)
* Woman with a Mirror (c. 1515)
* The Worship of Venus (1518–19)
* Venus Anadyomene (c. 1520)
* Bacchus and Ariadne (1520–1523)
* The Bacchanal of the Andrians (1523–1526)
* Allegory of Marriage (c. 1530–1535)
* Eleven Caesars (1536–1540)
* Venus of Urbino (1538)
* Alfonso d'Avalos Addressing his Troops (1540)
* Venus and Musician (several versions, 1540s–1570s)
* Tityus (1549)
* Sisyphus (1549)
* Danaë (several versions; 1543–1565)
* Venus and Adonis (several versions)
* Mars, Venus and Amor (c. 1550)
* Pardo Venus (1551)
* Venus with a Mirror (1555)
* Perseus and Andromeda (1554–1556)
* Diana and Actaeon (1556–1559)
* Diana and Callisto (1556–1559)
* The Death of Actaeon (c. 1559–1575)
* The Rape of Europa (c. 1560–1562)
* The Concert (c. 1543–1564)
* Venus Blindfolding Cupid (c. 1565)
* Allegory of Prudence (c. 1565–1570)
* Nymph and Shepherd (c. 1570)
* Tarquin and Lucretia (comp. 1571)
* Flaying of Marsyas (1570–1576)

Religious|

* Christ Carrying the Cross  (c. 1505 – also attributed to Giorgione)
* Bache Madonna (c. 1508)
* Flight into Egypt (c. 1508
* Rest on the Flight into Egypt (c. 1508)
* Lochis Madonna (1508–1510)
* Saint Mark Enthroned (c. 1510)
* The Gypsy Madonna (c. 1510)
* Holy Family with a Shepherd (c. 1510)
* Christ and the Adulteress
* Glasgow, c. 1510)
* (Vienna, c. 1520
* Virgin and Child Between Saints Anthony of Padua and Roch (c. 1511)
* The Resurrected Christ (c. 1511–12)
* Baptism of Christ (c. 1512)
* Virgin and Child with Saints Stephen, Jerome and Maurice (Paris; c. 1510–1525)
* Miracle of the Jealous Husband (1511)
* Balbi Holy Conversation (c. 1513)
* Noli me tangere (c. 1514)
* The Archangel Raphael and Tobias (c. 1512–1514; c. 1540–1545)
* Salome
* Rome, c. 1515)
* (Madrid, c. 1550)
* (Private, c. 1570
* Madonna of the Cherries (1515)
* The Tribute Money (c. 1516)
* Assumption of the Virgin (1516–1518)
* The Virgin and Child with Saint George and Saint Dorothy (1516–1518)
* Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist and an Unidentified Saint (c. 1515–1520)
* Madonna and Child with Four Saints (c. 1516–1520)
* Pesaro Madonna (1519–1526)
* Virgin and Child with Saints Anthony Abbot, Jerome and Francis (c. 1519)
* Gozzi Altarpiece (1520)
* Virgin and Child with Saints Stephen, Jerome and Maurice (Vienna; c. 1520)
* Malchiostro Annunciation (c. 1520)
* The Entombment of Christ (c. 1520)
* Averoldi Polyptych (1520–1522)
* Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata (1525)
* The Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr (1529)
* Aldobrandini Madonna (1530)
* Madonna of the Rabbit (1530)
* Madonna of the Roses (c. 1530)
* Penitent Magdalene (1531)
* Saint Jerome in Penitence (1531)
* Pilgrims at Emmaus (c. 1533–1534)
* Supper at Emmaus (c. 1534; c. 1545)
* The Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple (1534–1538)
* Saint John the Baptist (1540)
* Sciarra Madonna (c. 1540)
* The Crowning with Thorns (1542–43)
* Ecce Homo
* Vienna, 1543
* David and Goliath (c. 1542–1544)
* Abraham and Isaac (c. 1543–1544)
* Cain and Abel (c. 1543–1545)
* Serravalle Altarpiece (1548)
* Castello Roganzuolo Altarpiece (1549)
* The Fall of Man (c. 1550)
* Penitent Magdalene (c. 1550)
* Saint Jerome in Penitence (1552)
* The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence (c. 1548–1559)
* La Gloria (1554)
* Christ Appearing to his Mother after his Resurrection (1554)
* Mater Dolorosa (c. 1555)
* Saint Jerome in Penitence (1575)
* Crucifixion (1558)
* The Entombment (1559)
* Saint Margaret and the Dragon (c. 1559)
* Annunciation (1559–1564)
* Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1560)
* Penitent Magdalene (1565)
* Saint Dominic (c. 1565)
* Judith with the Head of Holofernes (c. 1570)
* Religion saved by Spain (1572–1575)
* Saint Sebastian (c. 1575)
* The Crowning with Thorns (1576)
* Pietà (1576)

Related|

* Orazio Vecellio (son)
* Francesco Vecellio (brother)

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