The Baptism

Weight contributed a number of drawings to The Oxford Illustrated Old Testament, published in 1968. These included the passage in Isaiah prophetic of the ministry of the Baptist. Ray Weight describes this illustration: 'The Promise of Restoration is fulfilled by one who, beneath a bridge, is receiving baptism from John. A few spectators are perched on the bridge, idly dangling their feet over the parapet. They look on as others, anxious for baptism, pick their way down to the water. One has stopped half-way down, and embarrassed by the witnesses, hesitates to remove his clothes - a charming touch, catching the optimism of the text' (see R.V. Weight, Carel Weight A Haunted Imagination, London, 1994, p. 74).

The artist exhibited a similar oil painting of this subject at the Royal Academy in 1976, no. 306.