The Baptism of Christ

Reni painted this around 1622 or 1623 for a Flemish silversmith living in Bologna, Jan Jacobs, and it did not stay in Italy long. Jacobs took it north to the Netherlands in 1623, and within a few years it had been sold on to a buyer in England. In 1649 it entered the Habsburg collection. The scene is pared down to very little. Christ bows at the edge of the Jordan while John pours water over his head from a small cup, and behind them angels hold his clothes ready. Above, the dove of the Holy Spirit comes down out of an open sky. The colour is almost all in the three primaries, red, yellow and blue, set around two pale bodies. The museum points to Raphael as the model for that calm, balanced arrangement. At some point the canvas was cut down at both sides, so the picture you see is narrower than the one Reni delivered.