Baptism of Christ

Andrea di Michele di Cione called Le Verrocchio (Florence, 1435 - 1488)
The Baptism of Christ 1472-5
Oil on wood
177 × 151 cm
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Commissioned by the monastery church of San Salvi in Florence, where it remained until 1530, the picture was executed in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, whose style is well defined by the figures of Christ and the Baptist.

The special fame of the work is due to the pupil who helped him paint it. The blond angel on the left and parts of the landscape background belong to the hand of the very young Leonardo da Vinci, who was in Verrocchio's workshop around 1470.

Some critics ascribe the second angel to another young Florentine artist, Sandro Botticelli.