Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this drawing as pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash and white gouache; framing lines in pen and black ink and credits Albrecht Altdorfer (German, c. 1480–1538).

The museum's collection notes: 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