
by Leonardo da Vinci, 1516
Leonardo da Vinci painted this Saint John the Baptist between 1513 and 1516, making it one of his final works. The Baptist emerges from absolute darkness, his mysterious smile echoing the Mona Lisa. He points upward toward heaven with his right hand while clutching a thin reed cross.
The painting's extreme chiaroscuro, with the figure lit against a completely black background, was radical for its time. Leonardo achieved this effect through dozens of thin oil glazes, building up flesh tones that seem to glow from within. Some viewers find the saint's feminine features and knowing expression unsettling.
Leonardo kept this painting with him until his death in France in 1519. It passed to the French royal collection and eventually to the Louvre. The ambiguous expression has generated centuries of interpretation, with some seeing spiritual ecstasy and others something more worldly.

Ancient Roman (Unknown), -100
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Gerard ter Borch
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Jacques-Louis David
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Bernardino Luini
Louvre, Paris, Paris
Other masterpieces from the Renaissance movement

Raphael, 1512
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Dresden

Sandro Botticelli, 1485
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Raphael, 1511
Vatican Museums, Vatican City

Raphael, 1510
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Titian, 1538
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Titian, 1555
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

El Greco, 1614
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Sandro Botticelli, 1482
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence
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