The Appearance of Christ Before the People (Russian: Явление Христа народу Yavleniye Khrista narodu) or The Apparition of the Messiah is an oil painting on canvas, measuring 540 cm × 750 cm, by the Russian painter Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov (1806–1858).

He was only eleven years old when he entered as a student in the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he studied under the guidance of his father, Andrei Ivanovich Ivanov, a professor of painting.

In the center of the painting John the Baptist, wearing an animal skin, is standing on the banks of the River Jordan.

[1] In the center there is a wealthy man who was too rich to follow Christ and a slave, about whom Ivanov remarked that he meant to depict people who experienced, after a life in despair and suffering, "joy for the first time".

To the right there is a figure, that stands nearest to Jesus, who was depicted as the painter's good friend, the writer Gogol.