José Atanasio Echeverría
Taufe Christi, 1790 - 1819
Executed somewhat less dryly than the drawing of Saint Luke (inv. no. 38520, cat. no. 38), this work employs a compositional scheme for the baptism of Christ familiar from the works of any number of artists. Holding a cross, John the Baptist pours water from the Jordan River onto Jesus, who leans slightly forward with his arms crossed in front of his breast and with one foot in the river. Above him hovers the dove of the Holy Ghost, and at the left edge are two angels.
The casual, short curves of the ground plants and the leaves of the tree link the sheet with José Atanasio Echeverría's larger, colored drawings in the Hamburg collection (inv. nos. 38524 and 38527, cat. nos. 37 and 42).
Jens Hoffmann-Samland