The Dance at the Court of Herod
Medium
engraving
Dimensions
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Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1952.79
Tags
male
About this artwork
In this imaginative composition, Meckenem combines John the Baptist’s beheading with a courtly promenade. The religious narrative’s gruesome episodes occur in the background, where Salome collects the saint’s severed head on a platter and then presents it at Herod’s banquet table. Salome appears a third time in the foreground, where she dances with a lusty suitor who grabs her waist instead of politely holding her hand.