St. John the Baptist is an oil painting produced between 1513 and 1516 by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci.
When the High Renaissance was metamorphosing into Mannerism, it is believed to be the final painting of Leonardo da Vinci as he died in 1519.
The painting dimensions are 69 cm × 57 cm. The canvas depicts St. John the Baptist in isolation. Leonardo used chiaroscuro through which the figure of St. John appears to emerge from the shadowy background. St. John has long curly hair and dressed in pelts and is smiling in the same manner as Leonardo’s famous work painting Mona Lisa. St. John holds a red cross in left hand while his right hand points like St Anne in Leonardo’s Burlington House Cartoon, pointing upward towards the heaven. In this painting, Leonardo used sfumato which conveys the religious content of the picture and how gentle shadows induce subject skin.
The work can be viewed at Musee du Louvre in Paris, France.
Stenographic Figure by Jackson Pollock