“Baptism of Christ” by Jacopo Bassano

“Baptism of Christ” by Jacopo Bassano was planned as an altarpiece that is expressive and unique in showing the baptism of Christ as a night scene. Bassano left it unfinished at his death in 1592, and his heirs retained it for over a century.

Bassano presents the baptism of Christ not as a sunny event in a pastoral landscape, but as the foreshadowing of the suffering in the Passion of Jesus. The painting’s unfinished style can be seen as a step towards modernism.

Jacopo Bassano painted mostly religious paintings, including landscape, and has been considered to be the first modern landscape painter.

Bassano’s pictures, and those of his four sons, Francesco Bassano the Younger, Giovanni Battista da Ponte, Leandro Bassano, Girolamo da Ponte who all followed him closely, were popular in Venice because of their depiction of animals and nocturnal scenes.

Baptism of Christ

• Title:                 Baptism of Christ
• Artist:               Jacopo Bassano
• Year:                 1590
• Medium:          Oil on canvas
• Type:                Christian Art
• Dimensions:     Height: 191.8 cm (75.5 in); Width: 160.3 cm (63.1 in)

Jacopo Bassano

• Name:            Jacopo Bassano (Born: Jacopo dal Ponte)
• Born:              1510 – Bassano del Grappa near Venice, Republic of Venice
• Died:              1592 (aged 81–82) – Bassano del Grappa near Venice, Republic of Venice
• Nationality:    Italian
• Movement:    Venetian School
• Notable Works:
  • Baptism of Christ

“Baptism of Christ” by Jacopo Bassano

Explore the Met Breuer Collection

• “Madame Cézanne in the Conservatory” by Paul Cézanne
• “Salvator Mundi” by Albrecht Dürer
• “Two Girls with Parasols” by John Singer Sargent
• “Opening of the Fifth Seal” by El Greco
• “Baptism of Christ” by Jacopo Bassano

Jacopo Bassano

Explore the Metropolitan Museum of Art – MET

• Metropolitan Museum of Art – MET
• The MET Cloisters
• Met Breuer

MET European Paintings Collection

• “Pygmalion and Galatea” by Jean-Léon
• “Saint Jerome as Scholar” by El Greco
• “Portrait of Juan de Pareja” by Diego Velázquez
• “Camille Monet on a Garden Bench” by Claude Monet
• “View of Toledo” by El Greco
•  “The Musicians” by Caravaggio
• “The Death of Socrates” by Jacques-Louis David
•  “The Harvesters” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
• “Young Woman Drawing” by Marie-Denise Villers
• “The Grand Canal, Venice” by J. M. W. Turner
• “The Houses of Parliament (Effect of Fog)” by Claude Monet
• “Madame Cézanne in a Red Dress” by Paul Cézanne

Jacopo Bassano Artworks

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“If a man devotes himself to art, much evil is avoided that happens otherwise if one is idle.”
– Albrecht Dürer

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Photo Credit: Jacopo Bassano [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons