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Out of deep darkness, a young Saint John the Baptist smiles at us and points upward, a thin reed cross in his hand. Probably Leonardo da Vinci's last painting, made around 1513–1516, it is one of the most enigmatic works of the Renaissance.
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A late masterpiece
Saint John the Baptist was probably painted in Rome around 1513–1516, in the last years of Leonardo da Vinci's life. He took it with him to France, where he spent his final years at the court of Francis I, and it was still in his studio at his death in 1519.
John the Baptist was the prophet who announced the coming of Christ and baptised him in the Jordan. He was usually shown as a gaunt hermit in a camel-hair garment. Leonardo painted him instead as a young, soft, almost androgynous figure, with curling hair and a mysterious smile.
The smile
John's face emerges from the darkness with a gentle, knowing smile, his head tilted, his eyes looking at us. It is the same smile found in the Mona Lisa and Saint Anne, painted with the finest sfumato. Some viewers find it spiritual, others ambiguous or unsettling, and it has been debated for five centuries.
Detail 1
The enigmatic smile
John smiles out of the shadows with a soft, knowing expression. The smoky transitions of sfumato make the face seem to float in the dark.
The pointing finger
John raises his right hand and points upward, towards heaven, the gesture that announces the coming of Christ. The finger, lit against the darkness, is the most striking detail of the painting. Leonardo used the same gesture in several works, and it became one of his signatures.
Detail 2Pointing to heaven
John's raised finger points upward, announcing the coming of Christ. The hand glows against the black background.
The reed cross
In his left hand, barely visible in the shadow, John holds a thin reed cross, his traditional attribute. A camel-hair garment, also very dark, covers part of his body. Leonardo reduced these attributes to a minimum, focusing everything on the face and the gesture.
Detail 3The reed cross
The slender reed cross, John's attribute, is almost lost in the darkness. Leonardo concentrated attention on the face and hand.
The darkness
The background is completely black, with no landscape or setting. The light falls on the figure from the upper left, modelling the body in subtle gradations from light to shadow. The painting has darkened over time because of the varnishes, but its effect of a figure appearing from the void was intended.
Detail 4Light on the body
The light models the shoulder and chest in soft gradations, the figure seeming to emerge from the void.
The influence of a mysterious painting
Saint John the Baptist was one of the paintings Leonardo kept with him until the end, along with the Mona Lisa and the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, and it had a deep influence on the painters who saw it. His pupils, especially Salaì and Giampietrino, copied its pose and its smile many times, and its dramatic contrast of light and darkness anticipated the tenebrism of Caravaggio a century later. The ambiguity of the figure, at once sacred and sensual, has fascinated writers and psychologists, including Sigmund Freud, who wrote about Leonardo's smiling figures. Whatever its meaning, the painting is a summary of Leonardo's lifelong research into light, shadow and the human expression of the soul.
Seeing Saint John the Baptist
The painting measures about 69 by 57 centimetres, in oil on walnut. It entered the French royal collection and is now in the Musée du Louvre in Paris.
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Is Saint John the Baptist Leonardo's last painting?
It is generally considered one of his last works, painted around 1513–1516.
Why does Saint John point upward?
The gesture announces the coming of Christ and points towards heaven, a motif Leonardo used in several works.
Why does Saint John look so young?
Leonardo broke with tradition, showing John not as a gaunt hermit but as a soft, youthful figure with a mysterious smile.
Where is Saint John the Baptist?
It is in the Musée du Louvre in Paris.
Sources and further reading
- Musée du Louvre, collection notes on Saint John the Baptist
- Vincent Delieuvin and Louis Frank (eds.), Léonard de Vinci (Louvre, 2019)
- Frank Zöllner, Leonardo da Vinci: The Complete Paintings (2003)
