Herodias and Salome with the Head of John the Baptist
Artist
Mattia Preti (Il Cavaliere Calabrese)
(Italian, 1613 - 1699)
Datec. 1640
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsImage: 47 1/4 x 67 1/2 in. (120 x 171.5 cm)
Frame: 58 3/4 x 78 3/8 x 2 1/2 in. (149.2 x 199.1 x 6.4 cm)
Frame: 58 3/4 x 78 3/8 x 2 1/2 in. (149.2 x 199.1 x 6.4 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineMuseum purchase, 1985
Object numberSN990
Preti was from Southern Italy and trained in Rome, where he was strongly influenced by the dramatic style of the famous painter Caravaggio (1571-1610). In this scene from the New Testament, Herodias, the mother of Salome, presents the severed head of John the Baptist, which Salome obtained as revenge for John’s disapproval of her marriage to Herod. The quiet horror of the scene is enhanced through the large, huddled figures rendered in dramatic light and shadow, in a manner typical of the Caravaggesque painters.
On View
On viewLocation
- Museum of Art, Gallery 08, Wall North
