3-041-544 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Baptism of Josaphat; Barlaam und Josaphat, 1469. Additional Info: Through Barlaam's teaching, the prince came to admire Christianity and embraced the religion. In this scene, Josaphat kneels before a baptismal font, his hands clasped together in prayer. A cleric performs the baptism with the aid of another man who holds a religious service book open for him. In the original version of the story, Josaphat's baptism took place secretly in the garden pool of his father's palace. This image, however, represented the scene in a manner familiar to its medieval audience, which would have recognized a baptism as a carefully orchestrated Christian ritual.