Preti: Baptism of Christ

Mattia Preti was a Knight of Grace in the Order of St. John Hospitallers. This order, also called the Order of Malta, is very strong in Europe and the United States; Dr. Dillon, it might be mentioned, was a Knight of Malta.

Preti was a successful late-Baroque painter. Between 1661-1666, he recreated the interior of St. John’s Co-Cathedral (at the headquarters of the Order of Malta) with a series of paintings of the life of St. John the Baptist, the patron of the Order.

This is not the 1661 Baptism of Christ. In that version, St. John is the central figure, standing erect and with arms apart, a noble instrument of God’s will. But here, St. John leans down, one hand on a rock, and his face shows great attention to Christ. With these small changes, St. John becomes more like a servant tending his Lord. Perhaps this best represents the St. John whom Hospitallers imitate.

Christ himself does not appear to demand attention; rather, he bends humbly before St. John and receives the Holy Spirit. The angel behind him appears as a mere onlooker, without drawing attention to its glory or Christ’s. Each character in the scene is a representation of humility rather than an ostentatious display of holiness.