The Dance at the Court of Herod, c. 1500. Israhel van Meckenem (German, c. 1440-1503). Engraving; In this imaginative composition, Meckenem combines John the Baptist’s beheading with a courtly promenade. The religious narrative’s gruesome episodes occur in the background, where Salome collects the saint’s severed head on a platter and then presents it at Herod’s banquet table. Salome appears a third time in the foreground, where she dances with a lusty suitor who grabs her waist instead of politely holding her hand.

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Photo credit: © CMA/BOT / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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