Classification Artwork

Saint John the Baptist

The saint emerges from darkness, smiling and pointing upward to heaven. Probably his last painting.

Persona Leonardo da Vinci

Start year 1513 - 1516

Associated place Rome or France

Creator credit Leonardo da Vinci

late work Louvre saint sfumato

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Gallery work

Story and context

The saint emerges from darkness, smiling and pointing upward to heaven. Probably his last painting.

John points upward with his right hand and holds a thin reed cross in his left. The background is completely dark, and the figure is lit only from the front, so he seems to appear out of the night.

The smile and the raised finger echo Saint Anne in the Burlington House cartoon. Here the gesture is a reminder of the prophet's role: one is coming who is greater than he.

The painting was probably among the works he took to France. Salaì's estate inventory of 1525 lists a Saint John the Baptist, and the painting later entered the French royal collection.

Saint John the Baptist

Story and context

The Workshop of Leonardo