The Sermon of John the Baptist

Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Sermon of John the Baptist
by Alexandra Tuschka


In this teeming crowd, we really have to look more closely to discover the eponymous John giving his sermon. The lines of sight of those present point to him and so the upright, bearded man a little above the centre of the picture is identified as the protagonist. It is John the Baptist in his simple penitential robe, who had already lived for some years as Akset in the desert. Now he addresses his words to the people. And although Bruegel is known as the "peasant painter", people of all classes and origins have gathered here. We see healthy people next to sick people, peasants and gypsies next to nobles, Flemings, Turks, Chinese and Spaniards together. The great differences in class and origin embody the content of the speech: the unity of all being. In this scene, not all present are yet moved by John's words. Some still seem to be debating (front left), are sceptical or hesitant, others are astonished or even lose consciousness (or is it rather an impudent yawn?). Some have also unceremoniously climbed the surrounding trees to hear the words. The words of God are addressed to all people. The people already thought they recognised the announced Messiah in John, but he pointed to Jesus:


Mk1,7 And he preached, saying, After me comes he who is stronger than I; I am not worthy to stoop down before him and untie the thongs of his shoes. 8 I baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.

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The act of baptism is rudimentarily indicated here in the river we see in the background. But a much more important motif is revealed when we follow the movement of the Baptist's hand. Immediately our gaze stops at none other than Jesus himself, who stands waiting and with folded arms a little behind his cousin. Only individuals in the crowd have also turned to look at Jesus. The ignorance of the people is very strongly illustrated here and also contains a certain humour. This scene is actually set in the desert, but was often interpreted by Bruegel's contemporaries as "uncultivated land", probably due to a lack of knowledge, so that we find the scene here transposed to a forest landscape with a view of a distant town.

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It is typical of Bruegel to hide the key scene somewhat and not make it immediately recognisable. This was taken to the extreme in the "Fall of Icarus", for example, in which the titular protagonist only sticks his feet out of the water. So here we are offered all kinds of opportunities to look at the small partial scenes of the painting. For example, in the front left, right next to the large tree, we recognise a pilgrim to Santiago de Compostella, one can clearly see the "pilgrim's shells" on his hat. The man a little further to the right is from China. A fortune-telling scene follows immediately to the right. And if you look very closely, you can even make out a baptism scene in the river at the back of the work. This anticipates the baptism of Christ by John and the river can be identified as the Jordan.


This painting was documented in the possession of the Infanta Clara Eugenia, who was governor of the Netherlands in the 17th century. Today it is in Budapest, and a second version of the work, painted by Pieter Bruegel the Younger, is in the Pinakothek in Munich.


Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Sermon of John the Baptist

Oil on oak, 1566, 95 x 160.5 cm, Sz;pm;v;szeti M;zeum, Budapest

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Pieter Bruegel The Elder, The Sermon Of Saint John The Baptist, 1566 | Art Print

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The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist (Bruegel)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist" redirects here. For the painting by Paolo Veronese, see Saint John the Baptist Preaching.
The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist

Artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Medium Oil on panel
Dimensions 95 cm ; 160.5 cm (37 in ; 63.2 in)
Location Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist (or The Preaching of Saint John the Baptist) is a painting of 1566 by the Netherlandish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, Hungary. It was painted as oil on panel.

According to author Russell Shorto, the painting was "a sly blessing" on "hedge sermons" given by Calvinist preachers "in a field outside the city walls, safely beyond the jurisdiction of the king's men", the king being Philip II of Spain, who had banned Protestant worship in Dutch cities.[1]

See also
List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
References
 Shorto, Russell (2013). Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City. New York: Doubleday, pp. 63, 65.
External links
 Media related to The Preaching of St. John the Baptist (Pieter Bruegel the Elder) at Wikimedia Commons
The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist on Google Arts and Culture
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Russell Shorto

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Russell Shorto
Shorto in 2010

Born Russell Anthony Shorto
February 8, 1959 (age 66)
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation
Authorhistorianjournalist
Nationality American
Alma mater George Washington University
Website
www.russellshorto.com
Russell Anthony Shorto (born February 8, 1959) is an American author, historian, and journalist. He is is best known for his book on the Dutch origins of New York City, The Island at the Center of the World.[1][2][3] Shorto's research for the book relied greatly on the work of the New Netherland Project, now known as the New Netherland Research Center,[4] as well as the New Netherland Institute.[5] Shorto has been the New Netherland Institute's Senior Scholar since 2013.

In November 2017, he published Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom, which tells the story of the American Revolution through the eyes of six Americans from vastly different walks of life. His 2021 memoir Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the Mob covers Shorto's own family history and his ancestors involvement in the American Mafia in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.[6] His most recent work published in 2025, Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America, continues to explore New York history into the British colonial period starting in 1664.

 Russell Shorto, The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America. First Edition. New York City: Vintage Books (a Division of Random House), 2004; ISBN 1-4000-7867-9
 Joyce Goodfriend, "Review" New York History Vol. 86, No. 3 (Summer 2005), pp. 298–301 online
 Paul Otto, "Review" Journal of American History (June 2005), Vol. 92 Issue 1, pp. 183–84 online.
 "New Netherland Research Center". Newnetherlandinstitute.org. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
 "Home". New Netherland Institute. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
 Stapinski, Helene (February 2, 2021). "Russell Shorto's Grandpa Was a 'Smalltime' Mobster". The New York Times. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
In 2022, Shorto founded the New Amsterdam Project at the New-York Historical Society,[1] with a mission to promote awareness of New York's Dutch origins.

Personal life
Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on February 8, 1959, Shorto is a 1981 graduate of George Washington University. He is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and was from 2008 to 2013 the director of the John Adams Institute in Amsterdam, where he lived from 2007 to 2013. As of 2014, Shorto resided in Cumberland, Maryland, where he wrote Revolution Song, his narrative history of the American Revolution.[2]

On September 8, 2009, Shorto received a Dutch knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau for strengthening Netherlands-United States relations through his publications and as director of the John Adams Institute.

In 2018, Shorto was inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame.[3]

He is married to Pamela Twigg and has three children and three stepchildren.[4]

Bibliography
Books
Gospel Truth: The New Image of Jesus Emerging from Science and History, and Why It Matters. ISBN 1-57322-056-6 (New York, Riverhead Books, 1997)
Saints and Madmen: How Pioneering Psychiatrists Are Creating a New Science of the Soul. ISBN 0-8050-5902-4 (New York, Henry Holt & Company, 1999)
The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America. ISBN 0-385-50349-0 (New York, Doubleday, 2004)
Descartes' Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason. ISBN 978-0-385-51753-9 (New York, Random House, October 14, 2008)
Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City. ISBN 978-1-408-70348-9 (New York, Doubleday, October 2013)
Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom. ISBN 978-0-393-24554-7 (New York, W. W. Norton & Company, November 7, 2017)
Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the Mob ISBN 978-1324020172 (New York, W. W. Norton & Company, February 2021)
Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America. ISBN 978-0-393-88116-5 (New York, W. W. Norton & Company, March 4, 2025)
References
 "The New Amsterdam Project | The New York Historical". www.nyhistory.org. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
 "Contributors: Russell Shorto", National Geographic Traveler, Vol. 31 No. 5, August/September 2014, p. 6.
 "2018 Inductees into NYS Writers Hall of Fame | CLRC". clrc.org. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
 Sutor, Dave (July 2017). "City resident's writing takes him from American Revolution back to hometown". The Cumberland Times-News. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
External links

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