Amerigo Tot The babtism of Christ

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The relief “The Baptism of Christ”, executed in 1966, represents the only known version featuring a gilded patina of the composition originally created by Amerigo Tot in 1938. Unlike many later reinterpretations in his oeuvre, this work is not a revision but the same composition and model, newly cast with a radiant golden surface that endows the piece with an iconic presence and enhances the play of light and relief. Depicting the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist, Tot renders the sacred narrative with classical serenity and balanced composition. The two figures stand within a softly modelled landscape of trees and rocks, their flowing draperies animated by subtle rhythms. Tot’s treatment clearly reveals his dialogue with Lorenzo Ghiberti’s bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery, whose narrative depth and spatial clarity profoundly influenced him.

The original work of 1938 was completed shortly before Tot moved to Italy, marking his transition from the Hungarian sculptural tradition to a Mediterranean vocabulary of form. Besides this unique gilded version, only two other examples are known in museum collections: one in the Vatican Collection, the other in the Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs. The present piece is therefore the only version known to remain in private hands.

In “The Baptism of Christ” Tot unites the intellectual clarity of the Renaissance with the expressive language of modern sculpture. The gilded surface imparts a Byzantine luminosity, transforming the act of baptism into a symbol of spiritual renewal. This relief stands among Tot’s most accomplished religious creations – a bridge between tradition and modernity, between Hungary and Rome, faith and form.