The Baptism of Christ

Piero della Francesca

The National Gallery

 
DESCRIZIONE:
This panel was the central section of a polyptych. It may be one of Piero's earliest extant works. Side panels and a predella were painted in the early 1460s, byMatteo di Giovanni (active 1452; died 1495). The altarpiece was in the chapel ofSaint John the Baptist in the Camaldolese abbey (now cathedral) of Piero's native town, Borgo Sansepolcro. The town, visible in the distance to the left of Christ, may be meant for Borgo Sansepolcro: the landscape certainly evokes the local area. The dove symbolises the Holy Spirit. It is foreshortened to form a shape like the clouds. God the Father, the third member of the Trinity, may originally have been represented in a roundel above this panel.
COMMENTI

LE OPERE