Francesco de' Maineri (1460 - 1509) Head of the Baptist, c. 1502-1508 Oil on panel 31 x 39.5 cm Signature: on the margin of the plate, some freshly-coloured engraved marks "III" "S.L.F." (?) 'IIII' 'T T M IIIII' (?) Other inscriptions: at the back of the plate in inverted lower, in black ink, "IOs: PITE. LEODI'. Distinctive elements: on the reverse on the upper frame in black felt-tip pen "LK 22" later cancelled in red felt-tip pen and corrected to "L.K. 251"; on the panel in black felt-tip pen "N°22 [cancelled and difficult to interpret]", in red felt-tip pen "LK 251" Provenance: Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (?; "quadro cum la testa de S. Zoane bat.ta"); Gallarati Scotti Collection, Milan (?); Giorgio Baratti Collection, Milan; Koelliker Collection (March 2001) Bibliography: A. Venturi, "Gian Francesco de' Maineri pittore", "Archivio Storico dell'Arte", I, 1888, pp. 88-89; L. Cogliati Arano, "Andrea Solario", Milan, 1965, fig. 40; I. La Costa, Scheda n. 11, in V. Sgarbi, ed., "Il male. Esercizi di pittura crudele", exhibition catalogue (Turin, Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi), Milan 2005, pp. 69 (ill.), 314, (Andrea Solario); M. Bacchi, Scheda n. 48, in M. Pulini and M. Abati, eds. Storie di San Giovanni Battista", exhibition catalogue (Cesena, Galleria Comunale d'Arte-Biblioteca Malatestiana), Cesena, 2010, pp. 208-209 Exhibitions: V. Sgarbi, ed., "Il male. Esercizi di pittura crudele", Turin, Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi, Milan 2005 (Andrea Solario); M. Pulini and M. Abati, ed., "La croce, la testa, il piatto. Storie di San Giovanni Battista", Cesena, Galleria Comunale d'Arte-Biblioteca Malatestiana, Cesena, 2010 (as Maineri) Certificates: Andrea Donati's card of 22 December 2023 (Maineri, attributed to) Conservation status. Substrate: 90% (back of panel not smooth and bearing cut marks) Conservation status. Surface: 90% (small abrasions and retouches also in the hair and black background) The relic of the severed head of St. John the Baptist enjoyed great devotion in the Middle Ages. "Scattered throughout Europe there were a dozen or more heads of the Baptist, sacred relics that many churches vied for [...] Three-dimensional reproductions were placed on altars to commemorate the beheading of the saint, foreshadowing the Passion of Christ [...] The therapeutic powers attributed to the relic explain its enormous popularity in the Middle Ages" (David Alan Brown, "Andrea Solario", Milan, 1987, p. 161). Among the existing versions, the most prestigious are the one preserved in the Basilica of St. Sylvester, therefore called "in capite", in Rome, "transferred during the pontificate of Innocent II (1130-1143) and carried in procession until 1411 and the one in the cathedral of Amiens, according to tradition brought from Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade" (Bacchi 2010, p. 208). "As Panofsky (1962) points out, "during the 14th and 15th centuries, the basin with the head of Baptist had become a devotional image in its own right, very popular in northern countries and northern Italy, where it became part of the figurative repertoire for the first time with Giovanni Bellini ("Head of the Baptist", c. 1465-1470, Pesaro, Musei Civici, [alternatively attributed to Marco Zoppo]) and was then taken up again by the so-called Leonardesque painters, decreeing its fortune throughout the current century" (Bacchi 2010, p. 208). (... continued: complete card in the pdf catalogue at the link https://goforarts.com/doc/VB_IT_2_2/Meraviglie_Atto_II_HR.pdf . The catalogue also includes lots that are not available on online platforms, including many of the most prestigious).