Baptismal Font Analysis

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One of the most famous pieces of arts during the 12th century was the Baptismal Font at St. Bartholomew’s Church. The Baptismal Font at St. Bartholomew’s Church is located in Liege, Belgium, and was believed to be created by a metalworker and sculptor, Renier of Huy. The font is made of full bronze and has a lip of 31 inches across the top basin made through the use of lost wax casting. In addition, the font is surrounded by 5 biblical scenes. The first scene is John the Baptist preaching to the four figures with one figure in full military clothing followed by a fig tree. The second scene is John baptizing two neophytes with his two disciples who followed Jesus (based on the bible) followed by a palm tree. The third scene is the scene of John …show more content…
It can be seen in the font that Jesus’ hand appears from above to represent his approval of the baptism. In the fifth scene, Saint John is baptizing Craton, the philosopher. It can also be seen a hand of god above the scene which depicts approval from God for the baptism. This font is a typical Romanesque piece of art. One reason to show this is by the separation of scenes using trees. It is common to see trees being used to separate different scenes in chronological forms of art. Another reason for its reliability to Romanesque art is from the hand of God. The hand of God is usually seen in Romanesque art during baptism scenes. At first sight, it can be clearly scene that the font is of biblical relation—all of the artwork/drawings around the font are of the catholic religion. It can be seen that God is overhead and is watching over the events which take place in the font. The importance of Jesus and God during the Romanesque era can be interpreted due to the artwork in this piece. It can be interpreted that the font is meant to serve as a baptismal font for the most prominent figures as it has scenes of important figures being