medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

In Orthodox and other eastern-rite churches 6. January is the feast of the Theophany, celebrating Jesus' manifestation as God at his baptism in the river Jordan. In the Armenian Apostolic Church 6. January is the feast of Christ's Nativity and Baptism (a relic of the very early Christian celebration of the Nativity on this day). Roman Catholics now (i.e. very post-medievally) celebrate the Baptism of Jesus as a moveable feast kept on the Sunday after 6. January or, in countries where the Epiphany is celebrated on 7. or 8. January, on the Monday following. Lutheran churches and churches in the Anglican Communion also celebrate the Baptism of Christ on the Sunday following 6. January. So, depending on one's particular confession, this post could be either a day late or a few days early.

Herewith some medieval images of the Baptism of Jesus, preceded by a very few of greater antiquity:

a) as depicted in relief on a third-century sarcophagus in Rome's chiesa di Santa Maria Antiqua:
http://tinyurl.com/oqzyaov

b) as depicted in an earlier fourth-century fresco in Rome's cemetery of Marcellinus and Peter:
http://tinyurl.com/k9appve

c) as depicted (at center) on an earlier fifth-century ivory relief panel thought to be of Milanese or Roman origin and now in the Bode-Museum in Berlin:
http://tinyurl.com/k2gu7xr

d) as depicted in the originally later fifth-century ceiling mosaic (betw. 451 and 475; restored in the 18th and 19th centuries) in the Neonian Baptistry in Ravenna:
http://tinyurl.com/k2j7j2y
The area surrounding the head of Jesus, the right arm and head of John the Baptist and the dove of the Holy Spirit has been heavily restored.

e) as depicted in the late fifth- or earlier sixth-century ceiling mosaic (betw. 493 and 526) of the Arian Baptistry in Ravenna:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jere7my/4018916164/in/pool-1307009@N23/lightbox/
http://www.kornbluthphoto.com/images/ArBapt1.jpg [photograph courtesy of Genevra Kornbluth]

f) as depicted in an illumination in the late tenth- or very early eleventh-century so-called Menologion of Basil II (Città del Vaticano, BAV, cod. Vat. gr. 1613, p. 299):
http://tinyurl.com/mmsnbcg
A closer view (but the colors are off):
http://tinyurl.com/lv84jul

g) as depicted (upper register) in a late tenth- or very early eleventh-century troper, proser, and gradual from the abbey church of the Holy Savior at Prüm in the Eifel (Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 9448, fol. 26v):
http://tinyurl.com/owzg8hj

h) as depicted in an illumination in the seemingly earlier eleventh-century Hitda Gospels (Darmstadt, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, Hs. 1640, fol. 75r?):
http://tinyurl.com/kv26xte 

i) as depicted in the earlier eleventh-century mosaics (restored between 1953 and 1962) in the katholikon of the monastery of Hosios Loukas near Distomo in Phokis:
http://www.eikonografos.com/album/albums/uploads/osios%20loukas/45.jpg

j) as depicted in the mid-eleventh-century mosaics in the katholikon of the Nea Moni on Chios:
http://www.eikonografos.com/album/albums/uploads/nea_moni/16.jpg
Detail view:
http://www.eikonografos.com/album/albums/uploads/nea_moni/17.jpg

k) as depicted in the late eleventh-century mosaics of the katholikon of the Daphni monastery in Chaidari (Athens prefecture):
http://tinyurl.com/kq6ej89

l) as depicted in a later eleventh- or early twelfth-century fresco in the Elmali (Apple) church at Göreme (Nevşehir province) in Turkey:
http://www.pbase.com/dosseman/image/41536869
Detail view:
http://www.pbase.com/dosseman/image/41536871

m) as depicted on a panel of the early twelfth-century wooden ceiling (betw. 1109 and 1114) in the Kirche St. Martin in Zillis (Kanton Graubünden):
http://catechese.free.fr/Im/Bapteme11.jpg

n) as portrayed in relief on the early twelfth-century bronze baptismal font (betw. 1107 and 1118), traditionally attributed to Renier de Huy, in the église collégiale Saint-Barthélémy / Sint-Bartholomeuskerk in Liège/Lüttich:
http://tinyurl.com/qxdlfsv

o) as depicted in an illumination in the earlier twelfth-century St Albans Psalter (betw. 1120 and 1145; Hildesheim, Dombibliothek, MS St. Godehard 1; p. 32):
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/stalbanspsalter/english/translation/trans032.shtml

p) as portrayed in relief on the earlier twelfth-century stone baptismal font in the Stiftskirche St. Bonifatius in Freckenhorst (Lkr. Warendorf) in Nordrhein-Westfalen:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martin-m-miles/5739541520/in/photostream/

q) as portrayed in relief (at center) on the earlier twelfth-century capital frieze (ca. 1145) of the west facade of the basilique cathédrale Notre-Dame, Chartres:
http://tinyurl.com/qgj2wbs

r) as portrayed in relief on the mid-twelfth-century stone baptismal font in Dalby kyrka at Dalby, a locality of Lund:
http://tinyurl.com/lbwtd3p

s) as depicted in a copy from 1818 of a later twelfth-century illumination (betw. 1167 and 1185) in the now lost original manuscript of Herrad of Landsberg's _Hortus deliciarum_:
http://tinyurl.com/px5upju

t) as depicted (second from right) in a set of later twelfth-century illuminations (ca. 1175-1200) bearing on St. John the Baptist (London, BM, Add. MS 42497, fol. 1r):
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_42497_f001r

u) as depicted (upper register) in the late twelfth-century frescoes (ca. 1191) in the church of St. George at Kurbinovo (Resen municipality) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://www.orthodoxy-icons.com/uploads/posts/2011-04/1304065238_kurbinovo0109.jpg
Detail views:
http://www.orthodoxy-icons.com/uploads/posts/2011-04/1304065161_kurbinovo0101.jpg
http://www.orthodoxy-icons.com/uploads/posts/2011-04/1304065161_kurbinovo0100.jpg
http://www.orthodoxy-icons.com/uploads/posts/2011-04/1304065216_kurbinovo0103.jpg

v) as depicted ca. 1200 in a fresco in the north crypt of the former cathedral at today's Roda de Isábena (Huesca):
http://www.romanicoaragones.com/2-Ribagorza/Roda%20G39.jpg

w) as depicted (upper register) in an illumination in an earlier thirteenth-century (1st quarter) psalter (London, BL, MS Arundel 157/2, fol. 5v):
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=1316
Detail view:
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=11269

x) as depicted (upper register) in an illumination in the earlier fourteenth-century Psalter of St. Louis and Blanche of Castile (ca. 1225; Paris, BnF, ms. Arsenal 1186, fol. 20r):
http://tinyurl.com/mq9zk25

y) as portrayed in relief on the earlier thirteenth-century bronze baptismal font (ca. 1225) in the Dom St. Mariae, Hildesheim:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2663/3941761660_b9f33dfe85.jpg
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/oskaf23

z) as depicted in a later thirteenth-century fresco (1265) in the church of Ag. Anargyroi at the village of Kipoula in Oitylo (Lakonia prefecture) on the Peloponnese:
http://www.zorbas.de/maniguide/scans/kip3.jpg

aa) as depicted in a panel of the late thirteenth-century Younger Bible Window (ca. 1280) in the choir of the Hohe Domkirche St. Petrus, Köln:
http://tinyurl.com/lhow86q

bb) as depicted in an illumination in the late thirteenth-century Livre d'images de Madame Marie (ca. 1285-1290; Paris, BnF, ms. Nouvelle acquisition française 16251, fol. 27v):
http://tinyurl.com/k69v67n

cc) as depicted in relief on the late thirteenth-century bronze baptismal font (1290) in the Marienkirche in Rostock:
http://tinyurl.com/kxlm5zg

dd) as depicted (upper register) in a late thirteenth or very early fourteenth-century fresco in the church of St. Nicholas in the Varos monastery in Prilep in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/3dvzcsu

ee) as depicted by Giotto di Bondone in a very early fourteenth-century fresco (betw. 1303 and 1305) in the Cappella degli Scrovegni (Arena Chapel) in Padua: 
http://tinyurl.com/ogkf8sn

ff) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1313 and 1318; conservation work in 1968) by the painters Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in the church of St. George at Staro Nagoričane in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/6pxlpp4

gg) as depicted by Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in a somewhat degraded earlier fourteenth-century fresco (betw. ca. 1313 and ca. 1320) in the King's Church in the Studenica monastery near Kraljevo (Raška dist.) in Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/kohbdqn

hh) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1317 and 1324) in the nave of the church of St. Demetrius in the Patriarchate of Peć at Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/pswz8ym
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/lkl5w4v

ii) as depicted in an illumination in an earlier fourteenth-century (1st or 2d quarter; attrib. to the Maître de Fauvel) copy of a French-language collection of saint's lives (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 183, fol. 181r):
http://tinyurl.com/mkhl7gv

jj) as depicted (at upper left) in an earlier fourteenth-century set of miniatures from Thessaloniki (betw. 1322 and 1340) for the Great Feasts (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Gr. th. f. 1, fol. 24r):
http://image.ox.ac.uk/images/bodleian/msgrthf1/24r.jpg

kk) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/m75w9sv
http://tinyurl.com/pbcqc79

ll) as portrayed in relief by Andrea Pisano on a plaque of his earlier fourteenth-century bronze south doors (betw. 1330 and 1366) for the battistero di San Giovanni in Florence:
http://tinyurl.com/lygafbs

mm) as depicted in a later fourteenth-century illumination by Giovanni di Benedetto and workshop in a late fourteenth-century Franciscan missal of Milanese origin (ca.
1385-1390; Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 757, fol. 439v):
http://tinyurl.com/pj6lmho

nn) as depicted (upper register) in the late fourteenth-century frescoes (1386/1387) of the church of St. Athanasius of Mouzaki in Kastoria (Kastoria prefecture) in northwestern Greece:
http://tinyurl.com/4ygjnkc
Note the symbolic association with the Anastasis conveyed by the doors of hell under Jesus' feet. 

oo) as depicted in an illumination in an earlier fifteenth-century (2d quarter) psalter and other religious texts from the Tigray region of Ethiopia (Paris, BnF, ms. Ethiopien d'Abbadie 105, fol. 7r):
http://tinyurl.com/nkoqskp 

pp) as depicted by Beato Angelico in a panel painting from his mid-fifteenth-century Armadio degli Argenti (ca. 1451), now in the Museo nazionale di San Marco in Florence:
http://tinyurl.com/lvyurrt

qq) as depicted in an illumination in a mid-fifteenth-century gospels (1456) in Armenian (Paris, BN, ms. Arménien 18, fol. 10r):
http://tinyurl.com/p2g58c2

rr) as depicted in a later fifteenth-century panel painting (1474-1475) by Andrea del Verrocchio, now in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence:
http://www.wga.hu/art/v/verocchi/painting/baptism.jpg

ss) as portrayed in relief by Andrea della Robbia on his later fifteenth-century terracotta sculpture (betw. 1464 and 1490) for the baptismal font in the pieve delle Sante Flora e Lucilla in Santa Fiora (GR) in Tuscany:
http://tinyurl.com/qxjofrn
http://tinyurl.com/lnz7d2z

tt) as portrayed in relief (lower register at left) by Martin Schmidt on his late fifteenth-century baptismal font in the Marienkirche in Reutlingen (Lkr. Reutlingen) in Baden-Württemberg:
http://tinyurl.com/m7e9k8m

uu) as portrayed in relief (at left) on the late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century jubé (betw. 1490 and 1530) in the basilique cathédrale Notre-Dame, Amiens:
http://tinyurl.com/6ouetja

vv) as depicted by Theofanis Strelitzas-Bathas (a.k.a. Theophanes the Cretan) in the earlier sixteenth-century frescoes (1545 and 1546) of the katholikon of the Stavronikita monastery on Mt. Athos:
1) next to a window (much of the scene is painted on the soffit, where one may discern at top an image of the Holy Spirit and below a poorly preserved image of St. John the Forerunner):
http://tinyurl.com/7xa8rca
2) in a niche for the blessing of waters:
http://tinyurl.com/7fw49of

Best,
John Dillon

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