Image · Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Renaissance · Painting
Saint John the Baptist
Leonardo da Vinci · c. 1513–1516
ArtistLeonardo da Vinci
Datec. 1513–1516
TypePainting
MediumOil on walnut wood
Dimensions69 cm × 57 cm (27 in × 22 in)
LocationDenon Wing
— The Work
About this masterpiece
Emerging from a velvety darkness, Leonardo’s androgynous Saint John smiles enigmatically as he points upward with one finger toward an unseen heaven. Dressed in animal skins and curling hair, he holds a slender reed cross. The figure dissolves into shadow with extraordinary sfumato, bordering on the mystical.
— Context
Historical significance
Considered the last painting Leonardo completed, Saint John the Baptist concentrates his late style — ambiguity, sensuous beauty, spiritual mystery — into a single small panel. It entered the French royal collection through Cardinal Mazarin in the 17th century.
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