Florence Baptistery
Traditionally, the painting has been considered the artist's last, and has been dated to 1513–1516; Leonardo's "sfumato" technique here being considered to have reached its apogee. Some experts, however, have compared the hand of Saint John to a similar work by a pupil in the Codex Atlanticus, dating the commencement of the picture to around 1509. The pose is also similar to that of a sculpture of the same subject completed after 1510 for the Florence Baptistery by Giovanni Francesco Rustici. Leonardo is thought to have given Rustici technical advice for his commission; it is possible that one artist could have influenced the other with the idea for the pose.