Feast of Herod
Mattia Preti1656 - 1661
The Toledo Museum of Art
Toledo, United States
According to the Gospel of Saint Mark, John the Baptist was imprisoned after he denounced King Herod for marrying his sister-in-law, Herodias. Later, at Herod’s birthday feast, Herodias’s daughter, Salome, danced to entertain the guests. She so pleased the king that he promised her whatever she wished. At her mother’s urging, Salome asked for the head of John the Baptist, which she then presented to her mother on a silver charger.
In Mattia Preti’s presentation of the shocking event, the major figures—Salome, Herodias (in the center), and Herod—are nearly devoid of emotion. Their forms emerge in light from the shadows behind, and the drama of the event is carried in gestures of the hands. Though the mood and the coloring are dark, Preti convincingly stages a sumptuous banquet, with elaborate garments and jewels and a rich display of tableware on tiered shelves in the background.
- Title: Feast of Herod
- Creator: Mattia Preti
- Creator Lifespan: 1613 - 1699
- Creator Nationality: Italian
- Creator Gender: male
- Creator Death Place: Valletta, Italy
- Creator Birth Place: Taverna, Italy
- Date Created: 1656 - 1661
- Physical Location: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
- Location Created: Europe, Italy
- Physical Dimensions: Painting; 70 × 99 1/4 in. (177.8 × 252.1 cm) Frame: 80 1/2 × 110 × 4 1/2 in. (204.5 × 279.4 × 11.4 cm)
- Subject Keywords: interior scene; religion; religious; table; man; woman; servant; server; platter; head; John the Baptist; ax; Salome; Herodias; Herod; jewlery; banquet; party; napkins; curtain
- Type: Painting
- Rights: https://toledomuseum.org/collection/image-resources/
- External Link: Toledo Museum of Art
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Fun Fact: A haunting silence pervades Mattia Preti's scene of John the Baptist's horrific end. The story of the gruesome death of the precursor of Christ is recounted in the gospels of Matthew and Mark (and alluded to in Luke's). John the Baptist was imprisoned in Galilee for rebuking King Herod Antipas for having married his brother's wife, Herodias. Later, at Herod's birthday feast, Herodias's daughter, Salome, danced to entertain the guests, so pleasing the king that he promised her whatever she wished. At her mother's urging, Salome asked for the head of John the Baptist. The ruler reluctantly granted her wish. Salome then presented the head to her mother on a silver tray—the moment imagined here by Preti. This painting is likely from a cycle on the life of John the Baptist that the artist is known to have completed for a member of the Neapolitan nobility. The somber moment was used by Preti as an opportunity to delve into the emotional responses of the protagonists of this theatrical account of revenge and honor ill-served. With the compositional structure of the portico setting reinforcing the triad of principal characters, Salome enters at left, bearing the severed head, the halberd above a reminder of the shocking action just taken. Across from her Herod recoils and gesticulates, aghast at the grizzly outcome of his promise. Primacy of place is reserved for Herodias. As she nervously fingers her garment, the ashen tones of her face and neck contrasts starkly with that of the head resting on the platter. Around and behind them some twelve other guests and servants are portrayed in various degrees of awareness of what is occuring. The whole effect is that of a magnificent, mute opera, with pathos the poignant theme.
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