Cesare da Sesto, 'Salome', probably about 1510-20

Salome displays the severed head of John the Baptist as his executioner places it in a footed bowl. Her mother Herodias persuaded her to ask for this grisly prize from Herod as a reward for her dancing (Mark 6: 21–28). Herodias held a grudge against John the Baptist for saying that her marriage to Herod was unlawful. Salome, her head crowned with myrtle like a bride, seems to smile as if pleased that her wish has been granted. We are placed in the role of her mother, presented with the object of our desire. The table-top is supported by a stone harpy – a half-woman and half-bird personification of storm winds.

The picture is very carefully composed, with the three arms of the figures parallel to each other. Salome’s pose is elegant and graceful, her drapery decorated with a pattern of tiny dashes. The executioner’s pose and the turn of his head echoes that of Salome, making more obvious the contrast between her pale beauty and his swarthy, muscular physique. The serpentine line of the fabric train she clutches to her is continued in the folded-back edge of the table cloth. There is an implied diagonal line running down the executioner’s back, along the crease of Salome’s drapery and down her left leg, which is crossed by an implied diagonal running down Salome’s arm in the other direction. The actual centre of the composition is empty, and its focus is not on the Baptist’s head, as one might expect, but on Salome’s hand presenting the gruesome object to us.

There are three variants of this composition; the original is probably the one in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. There is another version in the Volterra Collection in Florence. The National Gallery’s painting is possibly a studio replica of the painting in Vienna. The London and Vienna pictures are very similar except for the colours. The sash worn by Salome in the National Gallery’s painting does not appear in the Vienna picture and may not be original, as it is painted on top of the dress and various ornaments which correspond closely with the Vienna version. In the National Gallery’s painting, Salome’s brooch and collar appear very unfinished and the details of drawing are less defined than in the Vienna version – there is a knot in the executioner’s shirt in the Vienna picture but none in the National Gallery’s painting. There are at least four surviving drawings relating to this composition. Two of them include additional figures in poses that reveal Cesare’s awareness of Raphael’s Transfiguration (Vatican Museums).

Cesare da Sesto worked mostly in Milan. His earlier works are influenced by Leonardo, his later ones adopt Raphael’s late style. Here Leonardo’s influence can be seen in the dramatic lighting effects and the ‘smoky’ manner in which Salome’s face is painted. When the original of the painting was in the collection of Rudolf II in Prague it was believed to be by Leonardo. The subject was popular among artists working in Milan and it appears in several well-known pictures by Luini and Andrea Solario.