Salome biedt haar ouders het hoofd van Johannes de Doper aan 1580 - 1600

Jacob de Weert etched this image of ‘Salome offers her parents the head of John the Baptist’ sometime in the late 16th or early 17th century. It’s an illustration of a biblical story, but its treatment here reveals a great deal about the complex social and religious politics of the time. The scene depicts Salome presenting the severed head of John the Baptist to her parents, King Herod and his wife Herodias, after dancing for them. While the subject is biblical, the setting and the characters' costumes reflect the wealth and extravagance of the Northern Renaissance courts. This print circulated at a time when printed images were vital in disseminating ideas and shaping public opinion during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. The gruesome depiction of violence, combined with the opulent setting, can be interpreted as a commentary on the decadence and moral corruption of the ruling classes. To fully understand this image, we need to research the social and political context of the artist and the audience for whom it was made. Catalogues of prints and the records of printmaking workshops can tell us a great deal about its meanings.