SIMON VOUET
V ouet began his career training with his father, who was also a painter. He was well traveled, living in London, Con- stantinople, and Venice. He settled in Rome by 1613, where he studied Caravaggio’s works. After Cardinal Maffeo Barberini was elected pope, in 1623, he chose Vouet to paint an altarpiece for Saint Peter’s Basilica, an honor never before bestowed upon a foreign painter. Unfortunately, his canvas, The Adoration of the Cross with Saints , was destroyed in the eighteenth century. Despite his success, Vouet ended his Roman expe- rience in 1627 to become first painter at the court of King Louis XIII. This painting depicts the death of John the Baptist as told in the Gospel of Mark (6:16–29). John was imprisoned for speak- ing out against King Herod’s divorce and remarriage to Herodias. During the king’s birthday feast, Herodias’s daughter Salome so pleased Herod with her dancing that he promised to give her anything she desired. Persuaded by her mother’s thirst for revenge against John, Salome asked for the saint’s head on a platter. Reluctantly, the king gave the young woman what she asked. In Vouet’s version, Salome’s elegance and calm presence contradict the grue- some nature of her request, exemplified by the dauntingly realistic rendering of the saint’s head on a salver. Caravaggio tackled this theme on several occasions, adding the executor and a maidservant to the scene. The image is a popular one in art history, reiterating themes of the young woman as a seductress who turns men away from faith or salvation.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Salome Receives the Head of John the Baptist , ca. 1609–10. Oil on canvas, 36 x 42 inches. The National Gallery, London, bought 1970, NG6389.
SIMON VOUET (Paris, 1590–1649) Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist , 1614–27 Oil on canvas 38 ₅ ⁄8 x 28 ₃ ⁄8 inches Museum and Gallery at Bob Jones University, Greenville, SC
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Salome with the Head of John the Baptist , ca. 1609. Oil on canvas, 46 x 55 inches. Palacio Reale, Madrid.
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator