The Baptism of Christ

Rottenhammer's Baptism of Christ belongs to the generation of his mature works, after his return from Italy to Augsburg. The subject — Christ receiving baptism from John in the Jordan — was a standard devotional subject allowing painters to explore the contrast between the human Christ and the divine dove descending from above. Rottenhammer brings to it the Italianate grace and luminous landscape atmosphere he had developed through his long Italian sojourn.

The scene is set in a landscape with the Jordan River suggested by the watery context. Rottenhammer uses warm light from above to represent the divine presence, with Christ shown in humble submission while John ministers. The landscape background is rendered with Venetian-inflected atmospheric softness.