Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist (mid-1600s): Art, History and Details

Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist (mid-1600s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jacob Duck (Dutch, c. 1600–1667).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The colorful, exotic garments worn by the woman at the right demonstrate Jacob Duck’s skill in painting luxurious surfaces: she is Salome, daughter of Herodias. According to the New Testament, Herodias bore a grudge against John the Baptist, who condemned her marriage to Herod, ruler of Galilee and Perea. At a celebration dinner, Salome so charmed Herod with her dancing that he offered her anything she desired—and Herodias convinced Salome to demand John the Baptist’s head. Rather than depicting the actual execution, Duck focused on the executioner’s muscled physique as he departs the scene, turning to look at the viewer after having presented Salome with John’s severed head.

Object facts

• Title: Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist
• Date: mid-1600s
• Creator attribution: Jacob Duck (Dutch, c. 1600–1667)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on wood
• Dimensions: Framed: 92 x 76.5 x 4 cm (36 1/4 x 30 1/8 x 1 9/16 in.); Unframed: 71 x 54.6 cm (27 15/16 x 21 1/2 in.)
• Collection: P - Netherlandish-Dutch
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1975.79

A detail from the museum

The pommel of the executioner's sword is decorated with a grotesque head, suggesting an ancient or exotic setting for this event.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin

Further reading listed by the museum

• Manuscript Catalogue (handwritten by Victor de Stuers, 1915).
• "Alan Jacobs: Fine Paintings." The Art Quarterly XXXIV, no. 3 (Autumn 1971): 361.
• "Notable Works of Art Now on the Market: Supplement." The Burlington Magazine 115, no. 843 (June 1973).

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.