Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

Huesca Museum houses five panels depicting scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist: The Visitation, The Birth of Saint John the Baptist, The Baptism of Jesus, The Preaching of Saint John the Baptist, and The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. Believed to have come from the altarpiece of Saint John the Baptist in the Monastery of Santa María in Sigena, they were part of Valentín Carderera's founding donation to the museum. The complete cycle would have included two other panels, which are kept in the Zaragoza Museum (Museo de Zaragoza): The Baptism of Saint John the Baptist (The Naming of Saint John) and The Preaching of Saint John the Baptist in the Desert. Part of the Hispano-Flemish trend, they are attributed to an anonymous Aragonese artist and are dated around 1500. This panel depicts two events that took place at different times in one scene. In the background is the beheading of Saint John the Baptist in the presence of Salome and the executioner. In the foreground is the banquet with Herod and Herodias, where Salome carries the deceased's head on a tray.