Cornelis Van Poelenburgh (1594 - 1667), Baptism of Christ

Cornelis van Poelenburgh was one of the founders of Dutch Italian landscape painting. The clean and airy atmosphere, the fragmentation of the landscape, the subtle chromatic harmony and brightness indicate that the author was aware of the pictorial texts of Mediterranean landscape painting, spread in the Netherlands by Bartholomew Breenbergh, to the extent that their images are sometimes difficult to distinguish from each other. His figures are very detailed: in the foreground, Jesus is depicted receiving baptism from John the Baptist, while three novices observe the scene on a rocky background., Oil on wood, 28,5 x 38 cm