1640
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist is a 1640 oil by Guido Reni, a Baroque work, depicting Beheaded Head, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
A young woman holds a silver platter. On it rests the severed head of a bearded man, eyes closed, blood still dripping. She looks away, lips parted as if she’s about to speak. This moment comes from the Bible—Salome asked for John the Baptist’s head after dancing for her stepfather. Artists loved the mix of beauty and violence. Reni paints her in soft light, almost gentle, which makes the scene feel stranger, not less. For another take on light and shadow like this, look up chiaroscuro.
This painting depicts Salome as she receives the head of John the Baptist on a platter, the gruesome reward she chose for having pleased her stepfather, Herod, by performing a seductive dance. This episode from the New Testament had long been popular in Italian art, thanks to its combination of religiosity, violence, and eroticism. The most famous and successful Italian painter of his day, Guido Reni worked in Rome and then in Bologna, where his highly refined style and intensely spiritual subjects dominated. Despite its horrific subject matter, this unfinished work displays the graceful…
Cardinal Girolamo Colonna (died 1666), Palazzo Colonna, Rome, by 1647 [Colonna collection inventory, 1647, no. 169; see Safarik 1996 for this and the following]; by descent in the Colonna family, until at least 1783 [Colonna collection inventory, 1783, no. 174]. Earl of Darnley, Cobham Hall, Kent, England, by 1812 [Graves 1912, no. 62]; by descent to Iva Francis Walter Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley (died 1927); sold, Sotheby's, London, July 22-23, 1957, lot 318, to "Nash" for £100. George Wildenstein, London and New York, by March 1958 [record of phone conversation between Ay Wang Hsia,…
London, British Institution, 1819, no. 62, as Judith with Head of Holofernes. Detroit Institute of Arts, Art in Italy, 1600-1700, Apr. 6-May 9, 1965, no. 82. Bologna, Pinoteca Nazionale, Guido Reni, 1575-1642, Sep. 5-Nov. 13, 1988, cat. 71; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Dec. 11, 1988-Feb. 5, 1989, cat. 59; Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Mar. 9-May 14, 1989 [Bologna only]. Frankfurt, Städel Museum, Guido Reni: The Divine, Nov. 23, 2022 - Mar. 5, 2023, cat. 158; Madrid, Museo del Prado, Guido Reni, Mar. 28 - July 9, 2023, cat. 82.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Guido Reni was an Italian Baroque painter, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne.
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