Herodias
Artist: Francesco Cairo (Italian, 1607–1665)
Original Dimensions: 29 5/8" x 24 5/8"
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
About Artwork: (before 1635) "Herodias—the mother of Salome—swoons at the sight of the head of John the Baptist, which she had urged her daughter to demand on a platter as a reward for her dance. Unfortunately, the bottom of the canvas was cut to eliminate the grisly detail of John’s head. Cairo made something of a specialty of grisly subjects, combining acts of violence and a kind of morbid eroticism. The picture was painted in Turin, where the artist was court painter to Duke Vittorio Amedeo I of Savoy (1587–1637) between 1633 and 1637." - (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

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