Guercino, Italian, 1591-1666
Title: Saint John the Baptist Visited in Prison by Salome
Date: 1624/1626
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
86.2 x 99.3 cm
Credit Line: Presented by Sir Denis Mahon to the British Fund for the National Gallery of Ireland, 2008
Object Number: NGI.4649
Label TextAccording to the New Testament, Saint John was imprisoned by Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, for denouncing Herod’s marriage to his brother’s wife Herodias. The episode depicted here - Herodias’s daughter Salome taunting Saint John through the prison window - is not mentioned in the bible. Guercino portrayed a moment of emotional intensity, as the chained and dishevelled saint turns away from the curious gaze of the youthful and bejewelled woman. The painting marks a transition from Guercino’s early, dramatic style of painting to the idealised, classical style of his later work.