_(caravaggio).gif)
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (Madrid) (Caravaggio)
Encyclopedia
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (Madrid), c. 1609, is a painting by the Italian
master Caravaggio
in the Palacio Real, Madrid
.
The early Caravaggio biographer Giovanni Bellori, writing in 1672, records the artist sending a Salome
with the Head of John the Baptist
from Naples
to the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta
, Fra Alof de Wignacourt
, in the hope of regaining favour after having been expelled from the Order in 1608. It seems likely that this is the work, according to Caravaggio scholar John Gash. Gash also notes that the executioner, looking down at the severed head, helps transform the painting "from a provocative spectacle into a profound meditation on death and human malevolence."
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
master Caravaggio
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque...
in the Palacio Real, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
.
The early Caravaggio biographer Giovanni Bellori, writing in 1672, records the artist sending a Salome
Salome
Salome , the Daughter of Herodias , is known from the New Testament...
with the Head of John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
from Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
to the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
, Fra Alof de Wignacourt
Alof de Wignacourt
Fra' Alof de Wignacourt was the 54th Grand Master of the Order of Malta, from 1601 to 1622. He was of the langue of France. His reign was notable for the construction of a number of coastal fortifications , and of the aqueduct that brought water from the plateau above Rabat to Valletta...
, in the hope of regaining favour after having been expelled from the Order in 1608. It seems likely that this is the work, according to Caravaggio scholar John Gash. Gash also notes that the executioner, looking down at the severed head, helps transform the painting "from a provocative spectacle into a profound meditation on death and human malevolence."
See also
- Chronology of works by CaravaggioChronology of works by CaravaggioThe following is a list of paintings by the Italian artist Caravaggio, listed chronologically.-List of paintings:-Further reading:* Roberto Longhi, Caravaggio. Dresden, 1968....