Artwork Page for The Dance at the Court of Herod

Details / Information for The Dance at the Court of Herod

The Dance at the Court of Herod

c. 1500

Israhel van Meckenem

(German, c. 1440–1503)
Culture
Germany
Medium
engraving
Measurements
Image: 21.5 x 31.5 cm (8 7/16 x 12 3/8 in.); Sheet: 21.5 x 31.5 cm (8 7/16 x 12 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 1952.79
Catalogue raisonné
B VI.206.9; Lehrs IX.297.367; Hollstein XXIV.244.367; TIB 6
State
IV/IV
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
Print

Description

In this imaginative composition, Meckenem combines John the Baptist’s beheading with a courtly promenade. The religious narrative’s gruesome episodes occur in the background, where Salome collects the saint’s severed head on a platter and then presents it at Herod’s banquet table. Salome appears a third time in the foreground, where she dances with a lusty suitor who grabs her waist instead of politely holding her hand.
A horizontally oriented print in dense black-inked fine lines depicts people with light skin tones in a stone room. At the center, couples in medieval dress dance around musicians on a pedestal. In the upper left, a figure presents a head on a platter. To the upper right, guests sit at a banquet table. Two small dogs play in the lower right, and text is inscribed along the bottom edge.

The Dance at the Court of Herod

c. 1500

Israhel van Meckenem

(German, c. 1440–1503)
Germany

See Also

Visually Similar by AI

Contact Us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please fill out the appropriate request form linked below:

Update or Correct Artwork Information

Imagery or Rights for Non-Open-Access Artworks

Report a Website Issue

Further Questions About This Artwork