2-732-683 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

John the Baptist recognizes Christ by the appearance of a dove, from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier, 1602-1604. This scene of John the Baptist’s recognition of Jesus is set in a lavishly decorated Mughal courtyard. The artist has closely followed Father Jerome’s text, which tells of the Holy Spirit taking the form of a dove that sits atop Jesus’s head, rather than the text of the Gospels, which describes the dove as hovering in the air. John wears the black robes of a Jesuit, garb that in the context of the Mughal court identifies him as a teacher. He points to an open book to acknowledge the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Messiah, and in recognition of the Word of God.