The Saint John Altarpiece by Rogier van der Weyden

The Saint John Altarpiece by Rogier van der Weyden

A life in three doorways

Each panel is framed by a painted Gothic arch, as if we look through a church portal. On the left is the birth of John, with his father Zechariah writing the child’s name; in the centre, John baptises Christ in the river Jordan as God the Father appears above; on the right, Salome receives John’s severed head on a platter. The arches are carved with tiny scenes from the rest of his story, painted to look like sculpture.

The baptism at the centre

The central panel shows Christ standing in the clear water up to his ankles, a still, upright figure, while the dove of the Holy Spirit descends. The river winds back into a deep landscape. The balance between the calm centre and the violence at the right gives the altarpiece its force.

Berlin

The triptych reached Berlin in the nineteenth century and is one of the treasures of the Gemäldegalerie’s early Netherlandish collection.

Where it hangs

The altarpiece is in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin; each panel measures 77 by 48 centimetres.

About this print

Made from a 6,728-pixel photograph of the original, enough to print sharply at up to about 44 inches on its longest side.

Sources: Gemäldegalerie, Berlin · Wikidata Q1698794 · Wikimedia Commons