The Baptism of Christ

El Greco's The Baptism of Christ of around 1597, from his Santo Domingo altarpiece, depicts John the Baptist pouring water over Christ's bowed head while the heavens open and the dove descends, the entire scene suffused with the supernatural light characteristic of El Greco's mature religious painting. The Trinity's simultaneous presence — Father, Spirit, and Son at the moment of the Son's public inauguration — gave El Greco material for his characteristic treatment of the intersection between earthly and divine reality, the celestial figures dissolving into light above the terrestrial baptismal scene.

El Greco dramatically elongates the figures and opens the heavens above in a burst of celestial light, using his characteristic flickering brushwork and otherworldly color to dissolve the boundary between earthly and divine realms.