The St John Altarpiece

Rogier van der Weyden (Tournai 1399/1400–1464 Brussels)

Held by Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 534B

Medium Eichenholz (oak wood)

Dimensions Bildmaß: je 78,7 x 49,2 cm

Credit 1850 Ankauf zweier Tafeln auf der Versteigerung der Sammlung König Wilhelms II. von Holland und einer Tafel in England

Sizes

Entry birth and naming of john 8×10 in + baptism of christ 8×10 in + beheading of john 8×10 in $99 · $117 bought separately

One object, one catalogue entry: the Gemaldegalerie holds the three panels as Ident. Nr. 534B and they are sold whole. Three 8x10 sheets, one edition - $99.

Send as a gift

A printed card goes in the parcel with your message and the work’s museum record. No price is shown anywhere in the parcel. Enter the recipient’s address at checkout.

From Message 0 / 240

Have a gift certificate?

Code

The certificate’s balance is applied at checkout; any remainder is paid there. Check a balance or buy one.

Under a stone arch Our Lady holds the newborn John, and Zacharias, who could not speak, writes down his name. In the middle arch the Jordan runs to the knee; Christ stands in it facing us, John lifts a hand over Him, an angel kneels with His robe, and above them are the Dove and God the Father in a cloud of red. Then the third arch: Salome takes the head on a dish and turns her eyes from it, and the body lies at the executioner's feet. Rogier van der Weyden painted the three in 1455. The Gemäldegalerie in Berlin reads the retable as following its Miraflores Altar, with the Baptism at the centre, the twelve Apostles standing in the painted portals, and the carved arches telling scenes that tie each moment to the life of Christ. Three doors, and the middle one opens on the sky.

The museum's order: birth and naming, Baptism, Beheading; equal panels (je 78,7 x 49,2 cm).

Provenance of the files
Held by	Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin · 534B the museum’s record
Source file	Wikimedia Commons · Rogier van der Weyden - The Altar of St. John - Google Art Project.jpg
Licence	Public domain
Panel · birth and naming of john	The Birth and Naming of John the Baptist — 1,952 × 3,184 px
Panel · baptism of christ	The Baptism of Christ — 1,975 × 3,184 px
Panel · beheading of john	The Beheading of John the Baptist — 1,970 × 3,184 px
Chain	Each panel taken from the source file above and cut to its own painted field; held as 3 print masters.

Sources

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, 'Johannesaltar', Rogier van der Weyden, 1455, Ident. Nr. 534B; object page read 2026-09-13.

Printed on demand as one edition. The whole image is printed on every sheet — never cropped to fit — so each panel carries an archival margin.