How Bassano's age and death change our understanding of his unfinished painting

"I think his age liberated him and that he was working on it for himself."

"I think his age liberated him and that he was working on it for himself."

Curator Andrea Bayer on The Baptism of Christ, painted by Jacopo Bassano when he was 80 years old and left unfinished when he died.

Explore this object:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/440393

Throughout 2013, The Met invited curators from across the Museum to each talk about one artwork that changed the way they see the world.

Photography by Bruce J. Schwarz

Infrared and X-radiograph images courtesy of Michael Gallagher, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Sherman Fairchild Paintings Conservation Center

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Andrea Bayer
Jayne Wrightsman Curator, Department of European Paintings

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The Baptism of Christ, Jacopo Bassano (Jacopo da Ponte)  Italian, Oil on canvas
Jacopo Bassano (Jacopo da Ponte)
ca. 1590