The Executioner with the Head of John the Baptist

Dobson’s work is a copy of a painting by the Dutch artist Matthias Stomer, who worked in Rome under the influence of Caravaggio and his followers about 1630. Theatrical lighting and the play of silhouette and shadow dramatise the scene. On the right, the figure of Salome in profile is more subtly modelled, reflecting the lasting influence of Van Dyck, then working in England, on Dobson. Like Van Dyck, Dobson specialised in portraits of Charles I’s court and circle, and this early work represents a rare and unexplained venture into unfamiliar territory.