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Primary sourcePaintingc. 1470-1475

The Baptism of Christ

Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci · c. 1470-1475

A painting from Verrocchio's workshop with an angel and landscape painted by the young apprentice Leonardo, documenting his early training.

Documents Leonardo's apprenticeship and earliest documented painted work, the angel and landscape.

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Painting of the Baptism of Christ: a bearded, nude Christ stands in a river with hands clasped in prayer while a kneeling angel on the left looks on. On the right, John the Baptist pours water over Christ's head from a shell, holding a golden cross staff. A dove and golden rays descend from the sky above, and a palm tree stands at the left edge beside a rocky landscape.
Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci, The Baptism of Christ, c. 1470-1475. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

About this source

What it is

This oil-on-panel painting, finished around 1475, was made in the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio and is credited to Verrocchio and his pupil Leonardo da Vinci. It shows the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist and is housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Why it matters

Leonardo painted one of the angels and much of the background landscape while still an apprentice. According to Giorgio Vasari, Leonardo's angel was so impressive that Verrocchio stopped painting altogether, though this story cannot be confirmed. The painting shows Leonardo's early mastery of oil paint, newly introduced to Florence, at a time when most Florentine painters still used tempera.

Look closer

  • Can you spot differences in technique between the figures painted in tempera and the angel and landscape painted in oil?
  • Why might a master workshop let an apprentice paint part of a commissioned work?
  • How reliable do you think Vasari's story about Verrocchio quitting painting really is?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Leonardo da Vinci and Jesus Christ on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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