Salome with the Head of John the Baptist

Massimo Stanzione 1585 - 1656

Summary

According to the Bible (Mark 6. 22-28), John the Baptist was imprisoned for criticising King Herod's marriage to Herodias, the former wife of John's brother. Herod had become besotted with Salome, the daughter of Herodias, and offered to give her anything she wanted if she would dance for him. Prompted by her vengeful mother, Salome requested John the Baptist's head. Here, Salome is shown holding the newly severed head, as the executioner replaces his sword in his scabbard calmly and efficiently, his routine task complete. An aged attendant looks on in horror, while an inquisitive captive presses his head between the prison bars. The painting, a mature work of around 1630-40, owes much to the powerful forms and dramatic lighting of Caravaggio, yet Stanzione offers a novel dimension to this frequently treated theme. The composition derives from elements of Caravaggio's three versions of the subject, but principally from that in the Palacio Reale, Madrid (inv. no. 10010026). Departing from Caravaggio, Stanzione has Salome glancing up, watchful and alarmed, guardedly cradling the severed head on the silver charger. Further, Stanzione has achieved a remarkably taut and psychologically compelling composition by placing the heads of the three principal figures within the apex of a pyramid, whose four sides are defined by their three bent backs and the sword at the front. Stanzione was arguably the leading Neapolitan painter of the first half of the 17th century. His surviving work consists mainly of altarpieces and frescoes, although 17th and 18th century Neapolitan inventories suggest that he also produced numerous portraits and mythological paintings. He was created Cavaliere three times - which was both remarkable and highly unusual for an artist, as opposed to a famous writer or diplomat. The circumstances of his knighthoods indicate the importance of his connections with ecclesiastical circles in Rome and suggest that his activity in Rome was extensive.