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

Details about this work

• Provenance

  [José Atanasio Echeverría]; Julian Benjamin Williams, Seville (d. 1866); John Wetherell (?) (d. 1865); Horatio/Nathan Wetherell (?) (until 1874); Frederick William Cosens, London (from 1874 to 1890); Sotheby's, London, auction of the property of Frederick William Cosens (from November 11 to 21, 1890); Bernard Quaritch Ltd., London (from November 1890 to July 1891); acquired by the Hamburger Kunsthalle (July 14, 1891).

• Bibliography

  The Spanish Gesture. Drawings from Murillo to Goya in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Jens Hoffmann-Samland, with contributions by María Cruz de Carlos Varona, Gabriele Finaldi, José Manuel Matilla u. a., 2014, S. 198, Abb., Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 39