Salome

Salome

Title

Salome

[Göteborgs Konstmuseum, revised 2017]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[http://emp-web-34.zetcom.ch/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module

The young woman has a smile playing on her lips as she stands there in her splendid dress, holding up a decapitated head on a silver salver. The severed neck shines blood red while the eyes squint at the viewer. The motif is taken from the New Testament story of

The young woman has a smile playing on her lips as she stands there in her splendid dress, holding up a decapitated head on a silver salver. The severed neck shines blood red while the eyes squint at the viewer. The motif is taken from the New Testament story of Salome, who avenged her mother's honour by demanding John the Baptist's head. It was a reward because she danced so seductively for her stepfather - and uncle - King Herod.

The story dates to the first century AD, but Salome is dressed in the height of fashion from the artist's own time: a late Renaissance gown in red and black silk, heavy jewellery, and high forehead. Behind the draped black cloth of the background, we glimpse forest, mountains, a river, and in the distance a fortified city, probably a landscape from the German artist's homeland. This way of moving a biblical story to new times and places was very common during the Renaissance.

[Philippa Nanfeldt, Göteborgs Konstmuseum 2014; http://emp-web-34.zetcom.ch/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module

=collection&objectId=8490&viewType=detailView] (accessed 2017-02-14)

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Younger
Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Younger

[http://emp-web-34.zetcom.ch/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module
=collection&objectId=8490&viewType=detailView] (accessed 2017-02-14)

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Friedländer, Rosenber 1979, 142, No. 359D]
'until the 1990s attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder' [http://emp-web-34.zetcom.ch/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module
=collection&objectId=8490&viewType=detailView] (accessed 2017-02-14)

Production dates
about 1540
after 1537

Production dates

about 1540

[http://emp-web-34.zetcom.ch/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module
=collection&objectId=8490&viewType=detailView] (accessed 2017-02-14)

after 1537

[Friedländer, Rosenber 1979, 142, No. 359D]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 75 x 49 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 75 x 49 cm

  • Dimensions including frame: 94 x 67 x 6 cm

  • [http://emp-web-34.zetcom.ch/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module

  • =collection&objectId=8490&viewType=detailView] (accessed 2017-02-14)

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia at the lower left: serpent with dopped wings

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia at the lower left: serpent with dopped wings

Inscriptions and Labels

None

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

  • None

Owner
Göteborgs Konstmuseum
Repository
Göteborgs Konstmuseum
Location
Göteborg
CDA ID
SE_GKM_GKM0934
FR (1978) Nr.
FR359D
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/SE_GKM_GKM0934/

Provenance

  • Schloss Ambrass, Insbruck
  • Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
  • 1930 gift of Gustaf Werner
    [http://emp-web-34.zetcom.ch/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=8490&viewType=detailView] (accessed 2017-02-14)

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 142 No. 359D
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

Until the 1990s, Salome was attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder. He ran a large workshop where paintings were created by several different artists, including his son, Lucas Cranach the Younger. All works produced there were given a mark of authenticity, the winged dragon. This painting’s freer and more sketchy brushwork suggest that it was the son who was the author.

[Philippa Nanfeldt, Göteborgs Konstmuseum 2014; http://emp-web-34.zetcom.ch/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module

=collection&objectId=8490&viewType=detailView] (accessed 2016-07-05)

  • Salome, about 1540

Images

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Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Salome', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/SE_GKM_GKM0934/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Salome', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/SE_GKM_GKM0934/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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