Description
Lombardic School of the second quarter of the 17th century: SALOME WITH THE HEAD OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
Oil on canvas. Relined. 150 x 141 cm. Contemporary Baroque gilt wooden frame (with defects)
Comments:
The painting shows a very common subject in Lombard painting of the first half of the 17th century: the beheading of John the Baptist. It shows the moment when John’s head is placed on a silver platter and this is given to Salome. She will then present it to her mother Herodias and her husband Herod, who had ordered the execution. The monumentally composed painting has strong drawings that emphasize the plasticity of the figures and the anatomy of the executioner in the foreground. In addition, a lively color scheme models the surface with the sharp contrasts of the Chiaroscuro. These characteristics point to Morazzone, Francesco del Cairo and Daniele Crespi. The selected movements of the figures, their poses, the soft features and the dreamy expression of the female figures are particularly reminiscent of the early works of Giovanni Stefano Danedi known as Montalto (1612 – 1690), which he carried out in the fourth and fifth decades of the 17th century manufactured.
