Herodias

Francesco Cairo

before 1635 · Oil on canvas · European Paintings

Herodias—the mother of Salome—swoons at the sight of the head of John the Baptist, which she had urged her daughter to demand on a platter as a reward for her dance. Unfortunately, the bottom of the canvas was cut to eliminate the grisly detail of John’s head. Cairo made something of a specialty of grisly subjects, combining acts of violence and a kind of morbid eroticism. The picture was painted in Turin, where the artist was court painter to Duke Vittorio Amedeo I of Savoy (1587–1637) between 1633 and 1637.

Artist

Francesco Cairo

Date

before 1635

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Gift of Paul Ganz, in memory of Rudolf Wittkower, 1973