Baptism of Jesus Christ

El Greco made this Baptism in Toledo in 1596 or 1597, and it was not meant to stand alone. It pairs with the Adoration of the Shepherds in this same room, and the museum describes both as reduced-scale sketches for a huge altarpiece ordered in 1596 by the Augustinian nuns of the College of the Incarnation in Madrid, better known as the College of Doña María de Aragón. That altarpiece rose in three tiers, seven paintings of the life of Christ, and it was taken apart in 1813. You can feel that these are working pieces. The tall, narrow canvas lets El Greco stretch the figures and the whole composition upward, as he tests on a small scale the rhythm he wanted at full height. Christ kneels in the river while John pours the water, and above them the heavens open in a rush of angels.