Jesus replies that he must "be in his father's house" (). The Synoptic accounts of Jesus' baptism are all preceded by information about John the Baptist. They show John preaching penance and repentance for the remission of sins and encouraging the giving of alms to the poor () as he baptizes people in the area of the Jordan River around Perea and foretells () the arrival of someone "more powerful" than he. Later, Jesus identifies John as "the Elijah who was to come" (, ), the prophet who was expected to arrive before the "great and terrible day of the Lord"
The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist holding the Child Jesus as Jesus' young cousin, St. John the Baptist, stands to the right. It currently hangs in the National Gallery in London. It was either executed in around 1499–1500, at the end of the artist's first Milanese period, or around 1506–1508, when he was shuttling between Florence and Milan. The majority of scholars prefer the latter date, although the National Gallery and others prefer the former. The subject of the cartoon is a combination of two themes popular in Florentine painting of the 15th century: "The Virgin and Child with John the Baptist" and "The Virgin and