Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist
c. 1517
Albrecht Altdorfer
Albrecht Altdorfer (German, c. 1480–1538)
Drawings
Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist, c. 1517. Albrecht Altdorfer (German, c. 1480–1538). Pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash and white gouache; framing lines in pen and black ink; sheet: 19.1 x 12.6 cm (7 1/2 x 4 15/16 in.); secondary support: 20 x 13 cm (7 7/8 x 5 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1948.440 Salome's story is described in the biblical Gospels of Mark and Matthew. After dancing for King Herod of Galilee, her new stepfather, she was granted any wish she desired. Influenced by her mother, Herodias, she asked that John the Baptist--who was then imprisoned for condemning Herod and Herodias' marriage--be executed. Here, Salome enacts the most gruesome part of the story, presenting the prophet's head on a platter. In the Renaissance, the story was believed to presage the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and the presentation of the Eucharist during Catholic liturgy. Altdorfer's drawing emphasizes Salome's pride--a dangerous sin--through her elaborate garments, billowing, plumed headdress, and flowing long hair. He articulated these details using black ink highlighted with white gouache on paper darkened with brown wash and a finely pointed pen. The artist colored the paper on this drawing a dark brown in order to emphasize the highlights and shadows created with inks.
- Maker/Artist
- Altdorfer, Albrecht
- Classification
- Drawing
- Formatted Medium
- pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash and white gouache; framing lines in pen and black ink
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 19.1 x 12.6 cm (7 1/2 x 4 15/16 in.); Secondary Support: 20 x 13 cm (7 7/8 x 5 1/8 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: lower right, in brown ink: 17; on paper mounted to recto, lower right, in brown ink: 40; verso of secondary support, center, in graphite: Liechtenstein
- Departments
- Drawings
- Accession Number
- 1948.440
- Credit Line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Exhibitions
- Original Prints and Drawings by Masters of Berlin Museum Paintings, Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition, Drawings from the Museum Collection: 15th-17th Centuries, Drawings, Old Master Drawings, Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection, Old Master Prints and Drawings, Drawings from the Museum Collection, Drawings, Prints and Drawings of the Danube School, Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art, National Schools of Style, Albrecht Dürer and His Influence, The German Tradition, Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art, Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art
- Rights Statement
- CC0
Have a concern, a correction, or something to add?
