Blessing Christ

Blessing Christ from around 1520 by Bernardino Luini at the Louvre depicts the Salvator Mundi—the blessing Christ holding an orb representing his dominion over the world. The subject was closely associated with Leonardo da Vinci, and Luini's version demonstrates his intimate relationship with Leonardo's prototypes through direct studio contact. Leonardo's own Salvator Mundi, long lost and rediscovered in the twenty-first century, was the most celebrated version of this subject, and Luini's interpretation reflects how thoroughly he had absorbed his master's approach to the divine figure. The Louvre holds this work alongside other Leonardesque paintings that document the widespread influence of the master's approach across Lombardy, enabling comparison of Leonardo's innovations with their accomplished echoes in Luini's devotional images.

The figure of Christ is rendered with pronounced Leonardesque sfumato, the soft blending of tones creating an otherworldly luminosity appropriate to the divine subject.