<div class="description">
Painted in minute detail, Cranach’s majestic scene includes elements characteristic of landscapes in 16th-century German art: verdant forest, hilltop city, and distant mountains. A close associate of Protestant reformer Martin Luther, Cranach adapted Christian imagery to reflect Luther’s belief that religious art must narrate scripture. The Gospels describe Christ’s baptism with the heavens opening, a dove descending, and a voice saying, “Here is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased,” which Cranach painted in Latin directly onto the clouds.</div>
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Lucas_Cranach_the_Elder" class="extiw" title="w:en:Lucas Cranach the Elder"><span title="German painter and printmaker (1472–1553)">Lucas Cranach the Elder</span></a>
</bdi>
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://clevelandart.org/art/1953.143">https://clevelandart.org/art/1953.143</a>