Salome

In reality the Perugian sculptor did not have a temperament strong enough for an original, polemical and innovative stance; above all in his statues, he reveals an essentially academic and classicising mentality. The exaltation of Michelangelo's genius, among other things, forms the premise (we do not know with how much conviction) of the Trattato delle perfette proporzioni, which the sculptor published in 1567. The Salome was modelled shortly afterwards: the three-figure group of the Beheading of the Baptist was installed above the south door of San Giovanni in 1571, in parallel with Sansovino's Baptism of Christ and Rustici's Preaching of the Baptist, which adorn the other two doors; the teeming modelling of the relief with the Serpent gives way to a studied linear elegance, which somewhat stiffens the profiles and damps every quiver of the surfaces in calculated smooth planes.