Description
West Façade, Right Frieze, Life of Christ, Right Side of Central Portal
26: Baptism of Christ
(Matthew 3:13-6, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, John 1:29-34)
The three leftmost figures in this scene are headless, though traces of halos can be seen for all of them. At left stands John the Baptist, gesturing toward Christ who stands frontally at center. He is nude and the waters of the Jordan River are gathered up around his lower body. At right stand two figures that Heimann describes as “two angels holding Christ’s garments” (Heimann, p. 84); the two figures face two directions at the capital’s outer corner.
Compare with similar scene in Panel 21 of The Infancy of Christ Window
(Delaporte no. 2, Deremble-Mahnes no. 50) in the West Facade and the upper panel of The Life of John the Baptist Window (Deremble-Mahnes no. 106, Delaporte no. 117) in the South Choir Clerestory.
At left are figures from:
23: Christ among the Doctors.
24: Unidentified Scene (Mary and Joseph Taking Jesus Home?).
25: John the Baptist Meditating.
At right are figures from:
27: Temptation of Christ.
28: The First Two Disciples (?).
Subject
Cathédrale de Chartres--Pictorial works.;Church decoration and ornament--France--Chartres--Pictorial works.;Church architecture--France--Chartres--Pictorial works.;Christian art and symbolism--France--Chartres--Medieval, 500-1500--Pictorial works.
