Salome With The Head Of St John The Baptist

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This oil painting is called Salome with the Head of St John the Baptist painted by an Italian artist, Luini Bernardino. He started the creation of the painting in 1510 and it ended the year he died, 1532. In Salome with the Head of St John the Baptist, the figures emerge from a dark background and fill the foreground. The bright light is shining on both Salome and the decapitated head of St John the Baptist which calls attention on both of them. It also intensifies the tragic death of St John the Baptist and increases the dramatic impact of the painting. The dark background really make the figures stand out in the painting, it immediately grabs the audience’s attention as there is nothing to distract the audience in the background. The painting shows the main focus is the figures of both Salome and Head of St John with their soft skin tones that deeply contrast with the dark background. While the arms of the mysterious man are not the focus as the right arm is cloaked in the mysterious shadow and almost unseen. You could take notice of the man by his white sleeve on his left arm which is extending from the right side of the border holding the decapitated head by the hair. And a right arm that appeared at the bottom right corner. The arms have a darker skin tone than Salome and the blood veins are clearly visible which shows that the arms are belonged to a mysterious man. The drapery on Salome is soft and a bit shiny from the illumination of the light source which shows a bit of classical influence. This also shows the great use of the color with the oil paints. There is a slight greenish skin tone on the decapitated head compare to Salome’s head. The greenish color shows an implication of being dead. There are also drops of blood dripping from the neck wound to the silver plate that Salome is holding. Although the neck wound itself is not visible. The necklace

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