The Baptism of Christ

A blue-green landscape of rocks, river and distance fills the picture. In front John kneels on the bank and pours water over Christ, who stands in the river up to his knees. Above them God the Father looks out of a cloud.

Patinir, who worked in Antwerp, was the first painter to make the landscape the main thing; Dürer, who met him there, called him “the good landscape painter”. He signed this panel on the rock. Further back in the same landscape John appears a second time, preaching to a seated crowd.