Artwork
Salome
Salome is an oil painting by the Early Baroque Italian artist Bernardo Strozzi. It dates from 1600 and is held in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie Berlin.
About this work
Technique & Style
The palette is restrained, relying on warm earth tones and cooler accents to model the figure and still-life elements such as the silver tray bearing the head.
The work is painted in oil on canvas, a standard medium for early-seventeenth-century Genoese painting.
Handling is characterized by fluid, broadly brushed passages that convey drapery and flesh with lively impasto in highlights. The palette is restrained, relying on warm earth tones and cooler accents to model the figure and still-life elements such as the silver tray bearing the head.
Stylistically, the composition exhibits the tenebristic contrast typical of Strozzi’s early manner, with a spotlight effect on the protagonist and a softly illuminated background that emphasizes volume and movement.
History & Provenance
Bernardo Strozzi created the oil painting Salome on canvas between 1600 and 1627. The work depicts the biblical figure holding the head of John the Baptist on a tray. It is currently held in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.
Salome by Bernardo Strozzi is held in the Gemäldegalerie Berlin, as recorded in the Wikidata entry for the painting. The work is catalogued as part of that museum's collection, with no accession number specified in the available sources.
No exhibition history is documented in the provided sources. The painting's recorded inception dates of 1600 and 1627, its religious genre classification, and its depiction of Salome with the head of John the Baptist confirm its identity, but no prior loans, displays, or curatorial appearances are noted.
Overview
Created around 1600 by the Italian Baroque painter Bernardo Strozzi, this oil work portrays a female figure holding a covered bundle that suggests a severed head. Executed in the early Baroque idiom, the composition is anchored by a stark contrast between illuminated figures and a deep, shadowy background, which heightens the visual tension of the scene.
Subject & Meaning
The central figure is identified as Salome, the biblical character who demanded the execution of John the Baptist. She is shown with a calm expression while presenting a cloth-wrapped object that alludes to the martyr’s head, a motif that underscores themes of power, obedience, and the unsettling juxtaposition of serenity and violence.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Bernardo Strozzi, named il Cappuccino and il Prete Genovese (c. 1581 – 2 August 1644), was an Italian Baroque artist who was a painter and engraver. A canvas and fresco artist, his wide subject range included history,…
