Christ stands, naked but for a pale blue loin cloth, in shallow water to the right. With his hands clasped as if in prayer, he is glancing left towards Saint John the Baptist, who stoops on a ledge of rock to take water from the river. Two angels stand behind him, against a hillock with trees, and neophytes assisted by Carmelite monks can be seen in the centre middle ground. The Dove appears in the clouds above Christ against a golden light.

The signature on the cartellino at the lower left is generally accepted as genuine, and this work is usually grouped with very similar composition dated 1509 (Gemäldegalerie, Dresden). In the Galleria Estense at Modena there is an enlarged copy, signed by Luigi Anguissola and dated 1512, differing only in the background. A much damaged drawing in the Uffizi is probably an autograph preparatory study for the Royal Collection painting.

Inscribed on a cartellino, lower left, FRANCIA AURIFEX / BONONIES [Bononiensis] ('Francia Bolognese Goldsmith')