# The Baptism of Christ [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [GRECO, El]() - Date: 1551-1600 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 330 x 211 cm ## Commentary The altarpiece for the church of Hospital Tavera \(also called Hospital de San Juan Bautista or Hospital de Afuera\) was left unfinished at Greco's death. \(It is a later development of the <A onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/g/greco\_el/12/1208grec.html'\)" HREF="/html/g/greco\_el/12/1208grec.html">subject realized in the retable</A> of the Colegio de Doña María de Aragón in Madrid.\) Besides the Baptism of Christ, there existed at the time a Descent of the Holy Ghost, a Holy Family, a St Philip and a St John with the Lamb. All these paintings have disappeared. Beneath the Baptism of Christ are two landscapes \(the only known landscapes by El Greco besides the view of Toledo in New York\), but they were completely painted over by his son Jorge Manuel \(who completed the Baptism after Greco's death\) and have not yet been uncovered. ## Related artworks - [A Boy Blowing on an Ember to Light a Candle \(Soplón\)]() - [A Lady in a Fur Wrap]() - [A Prelate]() - [A View of Toledo \(detail\)]() - [A View of Toledo]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds \(detail\)]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Allegory of the Camaldolese Order]() - [Altarpiece]() - [An Allegory with a Boy Lighting a Candle in the Company of an Ape and a Fool \(Fábula\)]() - [An Allegory with a Boy Lighting a Candle in the Company of an Ape and a Fool \(Fábula\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()