Our drawing shows a compositional study for a scene of the Baptism of Christ: Jesus is represented in the center of the composition, immersing himself in the waters of the Jordan. On the right, Giandomenico depicts the profile of Saint John the Baptist, dressed in tattered skins, while the dove of the Holy Spirit descends from heaven. On the left, two angels watch the scene and guard Jesus’ robe. The artist quickly draws the contours of the landscape, sketching trees in the background, symbols of the regeneration of creation after the coming of the Savior. The free treatment of the lines and the still fluid and moving contours of the figures testify to the artist’s desire to explore different and varied paths, in search of the best formal solutions for the composition.



Giandomenico’s interest in this composition is attested by a large series of drawings devoted to this subject, thirteen of which are in the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, one in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and a few others in private collections. Giandomenico therefore engaged in a long series of graphic studies in order to find the most convincing formal solution, of which our drawing is a brilliant testimony. The Stibbert Museum in Florence holds a canvas by Giandomenico depicting a scene of the Baptism of Christ: in this painting, the scene is presented in a horizontal format, but includes all the elements described in the drawings: Christ with crossed arms, St. John the Baptist with the staff, the dove of the Holy Spirit, angels, bearded Orientals and trees. Furthermore, the series of drawings has several similarities with a lost painting by Giambattista, known today thanks to an engraving by Giandomenico, and which probably constituted a fundamental model for his compositions on the theme of the Baptism of Christ and for our drawing.