My second day in Boston was dedicated to the Museum of Fine Arts. In the heart of the museum was the palace-like Old Masters' Room featuring great works from High Renaissance and Baroque. My favorite, however, was Bernardino Luini's haunting image of "Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist", which had a great introduction on their website:
The Bible's gospel of Mark recounts how King Herod, captivated by the dancing of his stepdaughter, Salome, offered her any reward. At her mother's urging, Salome requested the head of John the Baptist, who had criticized her mother's marriage. Like other Renaissance paintings of this subject, the beautiful faces of Salome and John belie the brutal violence of decapitation. This painting, its contours blurred by delicate shadows, is one of the works by Luini most indebted to Leonardo da Vinci.MFA also had a great collection of Impressionism, which I was regretfully unable to finish. I did bring home a magnet of Monet's "Meule, Soleil Couchant", though. It sits pleasingly on my refrig, reminding me a nice sunny afternoon in Boston.
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