The sermon of John the Baptist, Pieter Lastman
Pieter Lastman (1583-1633) is nowadays best known as Rembrandt's most important teacher. In his day, the Amsterdam artist was one of the most important painters of history paintings: paintings with stories from the Bible.
The sermon of John the Baptist is signed and dated 1627. The busy scene, the bright lighting and the colourful use of colour are typical of the type of history painting that Lastman painted during Rembrandt's time as an apprentice. The painting represents John's preaching in a landscape. John the Baptist announced in his sermons the coming of Christ. He also called upon people to confess their sins and to be baptized by him in the Jordan. As early as the sixteenth century, the preaching of John was a popular theme among artists, because it offered the opportunity to depict both figures and a landscape.
