Dramatic, Violent and Bold: A Hallmark of Sir Peter Paul Rubens

This shocking and masterfully composed Head of Saint John the Baptist presented to Salome is an important early painting by Peter Paul Rubens, one of the greatest and most impactful artists of the Western tradition. It is hardly surprising that Rubens should choose as the theme of one of his first paintings after his return to Antwerp the Head of Saint John the Baptist presented to Salome. The subject was part of a long-established artistic canon and had been treated by painters from the Renaissance on. But, during the early Baroque period, the dramatic possibilities of the episode were recognized by a wide array of painters, no one more so than Caravaggio himself, and the young, ambitious Rubens would have understood the strong impact that his own interpretation would make.