Christ Washing the Feet of His Disciples

Nicolas Bertin · 1720–30

Medium

Oil on panel

Original size

49.5 × 72.1 cm (19 1/2 × 28 3/8 in.); Framed: 72.4 × 94.7 × 7.7 cm (28 1/2 × 37 1/4 × 3 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Baroque

Christ Washing the Feet of His Disciples captures one of the New Testament's most charged moments of humility — a sovereign figure kneeling before the very men he has called to follow him, the gesture redefining power itself. Nicolas Bertin was among the foremost French painters of the early eighteenth century, working squarely within the tradition of Poussin and the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, where classical order and elevated subject matter were considered inseparable. His religious paintings are distinguished by careful compositional clarity and a restrained emotional intelligence that keeps sentiment from becoming sentimentality. The oil-on-panel format lends the surface a refined, enamel-like quality — smoother and more luminous than the textures typical of large-scale canvas work. The painting dates from 1720 to 1730, a period in which Bertin had long been established as a leading Academician and was producing some of his most mature devotional work. Our hand-painted oil reproduction is made by experienced artists working from high-quality reference material, faithfully preserving Bertin's measured brushwork, tonal depth, and the composed dignity that defines this enduring masterpiece now held at the Art Institute of Chicago.