Salomé in Art & Painting
Fictional character Salomé lived in Judea between AD 14 and 71. Her Hebrew name is שלומית (Shlomit) means “peace” and was used as the typical “hello” greeting of the time. According to tradition, Salome was the stepdaughter of Herod Antipas (ruler of Judea), and danced before him on his birthday. This so delighted Herod that he promised her mother a favour, which was the beheading of John the Baptist.
Christian traditions depict her as an icon of dangerous female seductiveness, for instance depicting as erotic her dance mentioned in the New Testament, or concentrate on her lighthearted and cold foolishness that, according to the gospels, led to John the Baptist’s death.
Often the subject of fine art, below I have gathered as many examples of Salomé in painting or sculpture as possible, and arranged them chronologically. If you can think of any that I’ve missed, please leave a link in the comments!
Salome with the head of John the Baptist (1488) Tempera on Panel by Sandro Botticelli
