Piero della Francesca - The Baptism of Christ, 1440-45, 167 x 116 cm. This painting of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist was voted #9 in the 2005 BBC Greatest Painting in Britain Poll. A line from the apex of the arched top runs through the beak of the foreshortened white dove of the Holy Spirit, through the trickle of water from the equally foreshortened bowl held by John, its rim catching the sunlight, down the middle of Christ’s face, and through his reverently clasped hands, ending in the heel of his right foot, on which his weight is supported. The three angels on the left wait to dry and clothe Christ, while to the right of John, a man preparing to be baptized gets undressed. The landscape reveals Piero as a master of spatial depth, as evidenced in the river Jordan winding its way into the background and mirroring the landscape around it.