Caravaggio - Salome with the Head of John the Baptist 1609

Caravaggio - Resurrection of Lazarus 1608-1609 Caravaggio - Adoration of the Shepherds 1609 Caravaggio - Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence 1609 Caravaggio - Salome with the Head of John the Baptist 1609 Caravaggio - Tooth Puller 1609 Caravaggio - David with the Head of Goliath 1610 Caravaggio - Denial of Saint Pete 1610
Caravaggio - Salome with the Head of John the Baptist 1609

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist 1609
116x140cm oil/canvas
Palacio Real de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
The image is only being used for informational and educational purposes

<< Previous G a l l e r y Next >>

The early Caravaggio biographer Giovanni Bellori, writing in 1672, records the artist sending a Salome with the Head of John the Baptist from Naples to the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, Fra Alof de Wignacourt, in the hope of regaining favour after having been expelled from the Order in 1608. It seems likely that this is the work, according to Caravaggio scholar John Gash. Gash also notes that the executioner, looking down at the severed head, helps transform the painting "from a provocative spectacle into a profound meditation on death and human malevolence."