Giotto, The Baptism of Christ

1303-1305
Fresco
Scrovegni Chapel, Padua

The water, the angels on the left, and the Father above are common in images of the baptism of Christ, but in other respects Giotto's version seems to picture the colloquy between John and Jesus that precedes the actual baptism (Matthew 3:13-15). First, the two figures face each other eye-to-eye. Second, John is not pouring water on Jesus' head but appears to be making a gesture of refusal, as if to accompany his protest that "I ought to be baptized by thee, and comest thou to me?" Third, the dove is absent that in other images pictures the "Spirit of God descending" at the moment of the baptism (Matthew 3:16).

Finally, the Father holds a book, a very rare detail.1 Most likely the book refers to Jesus' insistence that the baptism will "fulfill all justice." In the gospels he will repeatedly state that his mission on earth fulfills the prophesies in the Jewish scriptures.

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Photographed at the chapel by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

1 The only other Baptism of Christ image I have seen that puts a book with the Father is Cesare Nebbia's mosaic for the cathedral of Orvieto. In that image an angel holds a sumptuously bound book at the Father's side.