Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist
Bernardino Luini·1500s or later
Historical Context
Luini's Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist was a popular subject in Italian Renaissance painting, allowing artists to explore the psychology of feminine beauty complicit in violence. Luini was the leading interpreter of Leonardo da Vinci's Milanese legacy after Leonardo left Milan in 1499, and his Salome figures typically combine Leonardo's sfumato technique with a sweet, slightly melancholic beauty that was enormously popular with collectors throughout the sixteenth century. King Francis I of France collected Luini's works alongside Leonardo's, and his paintings were long attributed to Leonardo himself by collectors who preferred not to distinguish between master and follower.
Technical Analysis
Luini's technique reflects his close study of Leonardo, employing soft sfumato modeling in the faces and a warm, unified palette. The idealized beauty of Salome contrasts with the grim subject, while the smooth, blended brushwork and gentle lighting create the serene, dreamlike quality characteristic of Luini's religious paintings.
Provenance
[Baron Persi, Paris, 1810];; Count Eric Bentzel-Sternau, Mariahalden Gallery, Erlenbach, Switzerland, until after 1847;; Miner K. Kellogg, Paris, by 1855;; Mr. and Mrs. Liberty E. Holden, Cleveland, 1889, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916.
