Domenico Ghirlandaio, The Baptism of Christ
1486-90
Fresco
Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
This image uses all the basic iconography of Christ's baptism: Jesus standing in the water, the angel with his garment standing on one bank while John stands on the other and pours, and the dove descending. Like many exemplars in the Renaissance, this one portrays the Father as a white-bearded man attended by angels.
On the left one young man awaits his own baptism while on the right another young man removes his shoe in preparation. These two can represent the whole number of persons whose Christian baptism is made possible by that of Jesus. The trope of removing the shoe is also found a century later in
the Baptism image
on the façade of Orvieto cathedral.
Read more about images of the Baptism of Christ.
Source: this page at Wikimedia Commons.
