Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist
Medium
pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash and white gouache; framing lines in pen and black ink
Dimensions
sheet: 19.1 × 12.6 cm · secondary support: 20 × 13 cm
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1948.440
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
Salome's story is described in the biblical Gospels of Mark and Matthew. After dancing for King Herod of Galilee, her new stepfather, she was granted any wish she desired. Influenced by her mother, Herodias, she asked that John the Baptist--who was then imprisoned for condemning Herod and Herodias' marriage--be executed. Here, Salome enacts the most gruesome part of the story, presenting the prophet's head on a platter. In the Renaissance, the story was believed to presage the sacrifice of Chris...