Salome with the head of John the Baptist, 16th century
Oil on canvas
121x94 cm. Framed
This dazzling painting faithfully replicates, except for the lower part of the composition, Salome with the Head of the Baptist, a masterpiece by Cesare da Sesto conserved today at the National Gallery in London. This remarkable version recovers the dazzling, brightly contrasted colours and the studied elegance of the postures of the two protagonist of the admirable prototype. The extreme sophistication, the most salient feature of the original, the result of a particularly elaborate preparatory phase, is also pursued in our canvas, which traces the original invention, offering a faithful interpretation of it but declined in an even more markedly mannerist key.