by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
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Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Salome Receives the Head of John the Baptist: Caravaggio's London Painting
An executioner lowers John the Baptist's head onto a platter held by Salome. An elderly woman behind her clasps her hands, while Salome's sidelong glance leaves her response unresolved. This is Caravaggio's London Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist, National Gallery NG6389, dated about 1609–10. It is distinct from his earlier, red-cloaked Salome in Madrid.[1]
The London owner's catalogue gives oil on canvas, 91.5 × 106.7 cm and lists Room 32 as its online location. The site's inherited 1609 JPEG, however, visually shows the Madrid picture with the bright red mantle. That image cannot accompany a London article. The distinction between the paintings controls the date, size, visual reading, collection and image rights.[1][2]
Caravaggio in context
The Cardsharps
c.1595Calling of Saint Matthew
1599–1600Supper at Emmaus
1601At a Glance
- ArtistCaravaggio, National Gallery attribution[1]
- Owner titleSalome receives the Head of John the Baptist[1]
- Dateabout 1609–10, likely late Naples period in the Gallery's account[1]
- Medium and sizeoil on canvas, 91.5 × 106.7 cm[1]
- CollectionNational Gallery, London, NG6389; bought 1970[1]
- Online display listingRoom 32 in the cited record; confirm before visiting[1]
- Identifying visual featurerestrained colour and no broad red cloak around Salome, unlike Madrid[1][2]
Contents
- What Is Shown
- The Painter's Economy of Colour and Gesture
- Salome, the Executioner and the Older Woman
- The Gospel Episode
- London and Madrid Compared
- Date, Technique and Collection History
- Identifying the London Painting
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Shown
The Gospel story has already passed its most violent action. John has been killed, and his severed head is being given to Salome. Caravaggio keeps the scene close: executioner, Salome, head and an elderly woman fill nearly the whole picture. The handover is both a physical movement and the moral centre of the image.[1]
The National Gallery observes that the executioner places the head on a salver held by Salome. Her glance moves sideways and her expression does not openly explain itself. The older attendant, hands clasped, registers grief. These differences in reaction are central to the Gallery's interpretation of the work.[1]
This scene is not the same as Caravaggio's Beheading of Saint John the Baptist in Valletta. That vast canvas depicts the execution itself. The London Salome takes the following instant and compresses it into half-length figures. The two can be linked in a reader journey, but a caption or thumbnail must identify the actual object.[1][3]
The image also differs from the Madrid Salome. A first-time viewer can look for the older painting's large red cloak. Its absence in London is an easy visual distinction; the authoritative confirmation remains the National Gallery's object number NG6389 and its own photograph.[1][2]
The Painter's Economy of Colour and Gesture
The Gallery describes the London painting's palette as muted compared with the Madrid version. Strong light still cuts across faces and hands, yet broad passages of dark ground remain exposed to serve as middle tones in shadow. The paint handling is freer and less finely graded than in some earlier Roman works. These are specific technical observations in the owner's catalogue, not a claim that the picture was careless or unfinished.[1]
Salome does not have the red mantle that dominates Madrid. Instead, quieter colour keeps attention on the transfer of the head and the figures' expressions. The visual effect is austere. A viewer can follow the executioner's arm to the salver, then to Salome's face, and finally to the older woman's clasped hands.[1]
The figures' heads make subtle echoes, which the Gallery points out in its analysis. The executioner and Salome may appear compositionally linked by light and angle, while their roles remain sharply different. He has carried out the act; she receives its result. Their linked forms make responsibility harder to assign to only one body in the image.[1]
Caravaggio had long used forceful light and close human models. The London Salome shows those means reduced to a few essential elements. That is a visual and curatorial judgement. It should not be exaggerated into a claim that every late painting had identical colour or technique.[1][4]
Salome, the Executioner and the Older Woman
The executioner extends the head toward the salver. His sword is less visually prominent than the action of his hand in this later composition. The Baptist's face sits at the intersection of their gestures. The whole episode becomes an exchange of weight, gaze and consequence.[1]
The Gallery asks whether Salome turns away in disgust, shame or horror, then leaves the matter as a question. A public manuscript should keep that openness. The scene gives evidence of a sidelong glance and a serious expression, but cannot reveal a single certain internal emotion.[1]
The older woman stands behind Salome, her clasped hands establishing a visibly different response. She is often described as a maidservant in the National Gallery account. She does not need to be labelled as Herodias, Salome's mother, unless a source specific to this object supports that identification. The biblical story and painted roles should not be forced into a one-to-one cast list.[1][5]
The close framing also puts the viewer at an uncomfortable distance from John's head. One cannot see a large court or the feast that preceded the execution. Caravaggio places the consequence of the request near the viewer instead. This is a reading of his composition, not a documented statement of the patron's wishes.[1]
The Gospel Episode
Mark 6:16–29 relates how Herodias resented John the Baptist's criticism of her marriage to Herod. At a birthday banquet her daughter danced, pleasing Herod, who promised a reward. At her mother's urging the daughter requested John's head. The executioner brought it on a platter, and she passed it to her mother.[5]
The Gospel passage refers to Herodias's daughter, without calling her Salome. “Salome” is the name attached to the figure in later historical and artistic tradition. That small textual point matters: the museum title follows a long conventional identification, while the source passage itself tells the story without the name.[1][5]
Caravaggio paints the moment the head is delivered. He leaves out the feast, the dance and Herod's promise. The image can therefore be read even by someone who does not know the full passage, but a short Gospel link lets that viewer understand why the transaction happened.[1][5]
Another biblical death image in this cluster, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, comes from a saint's legend rather than this Gospel narrative. Both paintings use hands and faces to concentrate violence, but the textual basis, patrons and known dates must remain separate.[6]
London and Madrid Compared
The National Gallery explicitly compares its own NG6389 with the painting in the Spanish Royal Collections. It dates Madrid probably to 1606–07 during Caravaggio's first Naples stay, while London belongs to the final months of his life, about 1609–10. Those are approximate dates, not inscribed years on the canvas.[1]
The Madrid painting shows Salome in a bright red cloak. The London version replaces that bold area with a more restricted colour range. London is also physically smaller: 91.5 × 106.7 cm, against 126 × 149 cm in a Patrimonio Nacional dossier for Madrid. The Madrid online object page separately lists its larger framed measurement, so comparisons should label which figure is being used.[1][2][7]
The people are similar in type, but their poses and emotional relationships differ. The London Gallery's analysis finds an especially controlled interplay between Salome's glance, the executioner's impassivity and the attendant's grief. The Madrid owner's description puts more visual emphasis on the red-cloaked Salome as protagonist. Neither painting is merely an interchangeable illustration of Mark.[1][2]
Date, Technique and Collection History
The National Gallery assigns the painting to about 1609–10, likely Caravaggio's late time in Naples. It cites looser handling, pared-down colour and exposed dark ground as features of the late style. That evidence supports an approximate position near the end of his career, while its exact completion day remains unknown.[1]
Its recorded modern provenance includes a Swiss private collection in 1959, acquisition by Major A. E. Allnatt in 1961, and purchase by the National Gallery from the Allnatt estate in 1970. The Gallery also lists incomplete whereabouts for 1933–45. A responsible public account can state these documented points without inventing an uninterrupted history back to Caravaggio's studio.[1]
The London Gallery showed it beside The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula in its 2024 Last Caravaggio exhibition. The Ursula is a dated 1610 commission with surviving correspondence; the Salome's date is stylistically approximate. Their temporary pairing helps viewers compare late narrative choices, but it does not make the works a commissioned pair.[6]
The gallery's online record listed the painting in Room 32 when checked. Visitors should confirm the current hanging and loans before travelling.[1]
Identifying the London Painting
The executioner offers John's head to Salome's platter, while an elderly attendant stands behind. The executioner's hand, the salver, Salome's sidelong face and the attendant's clasped hands identify this composition without assigning her a certain private emotion.[1]
This painting is National Gallery, London, NG6389. Madrid holds Caravaggio's other Salome, and Valletta holds the separate Beheading of Saint John the Baptist.[1][2][3]
Explore the Caravaggio collection
| Name | Date | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Adoration of the Shepherds by Caravaggio: The Messina Nativity | 1608–09; precise order relative to Resurrection of Lazarus remains unresolved | Artwork |
| Amor Victorious by Caravaggio | 1601–02 in the Berlin owner record | Artwork |
| Bacchus by Caravaggio: The Uffizi Painting | about 1598, according to the Uffizi | Artwork |
| Basket of Fruit by Caravaggio | after 1597, probably around the turn of the seventeenth century, according to the Ambrosiana | Artwork |
| Boy Bitten by a Lizard: Caravaggio's London Painting | about 1594–95 in the National Gallery's current catalogue; URL suffix “1596” is inherited | Artwork |
| Boy Bitten by a Lizard: The Florence Version Attributed to Caravaggio | disputed; Longhi's catalogue record preserves historical 1592–93 and other proposed ranges, including c.1597 | Artwork |
| Boy Peeling Fruit by Caravaggio: The Royal Collection Painting | about 1592–93 in the owner's current exhibition record | Artwork |
| Boy Peeling Fruit in Florence: A Derivation from Caravaggio | — | Artwork |
| Boy with a Basket of Fruit by Caravaggio | about 1595 in the Galleria Borghese catalogue | Artwork |
| Caravaggio Paintings in Rome: Churches, Museums and a Practical Route | — | Guide |
| Caravaggio Quotes: What the Documents Actually Record | — | Guide |
| Caravaggio's Lute Player: The Del Monte Painting Once Shown at the Met | about 1596–97 in the Met catalogue | Artwork |
| Caravaggio's Painting Technique: Grounds, Incisions, Revisions and Light | — | Guide |
| Christ at the Column by Caravaggio: The Rouen Flagellation | c.1606 in the owner caption; owner prose gives 1606–07 | Artwork |
| Christ on the Mount of Olives by Caravaggio: The Lost Berlin Painting | — | Artwork |
| Conversion on the Way to Damascus by Caravaggio | about 1601 in the Roma Capitale church record | Artwork |
| Crowning with Thorns by Caravaggio: The Vienna Painting | about 1603 in the 2019 KHM record; “1607” is an inherited URL suffix | Artwork |
| Crowning with Thorns in Prato: Attributed to Caravaggio | about 1602–03 in the collection presentation | Artwork |
| David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio: The Borghese Painting | 1606–07 or 1609–10 in the Galleria Borghese catalogue; the later Naples period is favoured by many scholars, while the owner keeps the question open | Artwork |
| David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio: The Prado Painting | about 1600 in Prado material; “1599” survives only in the legacy URL | Artwork |
| David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio: The Vienna Painting | about 1600–01 in the KHM's 2019 exhibition record; “1607” is a legacy route label | Artwork |
| Did Caravaggio Make Drawings? What Survives and What Paintings Reveal | — | Guide |
| Ecce Homo: Caravaggio's Madrid Rediscovery and the Genoa Painting | — | Artwork |
| John the Baptist in Caravaggio's Paintings: A Guide to the Different Versions | — | Artwork |
| Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio | beginning of the seventeenth century in the owning museum's account; about 1599–1600 in the Kimbell's 2025 loan label; around 1602 in one specialist catalogue | Artwork |
| Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto: Caravaggio's Ludovisi Ceiling | about 1597; the archive connects the work with Cardinal del Monte's 1597 commission | Artwork |
| Madonna and Child with Saint Anne by Caravaggio: The Palafrenieri Altarpiece | 1605 in the Galleria Borghese object field; completed and delivered by 8 April 1606 | Artwork |
| Madonna of Loreto by Caravaggio: The Pilgrims at Sant'Agostino | broadly c.1604–06; institutional records differ slightly in their starting year | Artwork |
| Madonna of the Rosary by Caravaggio: The Vienna Altarpiece | around 1603 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum's object record | Artwork |
| Martha and Mary Magdalene by Caravaggio: The Detroit Painting | about 1598 in the Detroit Institute of Arts record | Artwork |
| Medusa by Caravaggio: The Uffizi Painted Shield | 1596–98 in the Uffizi's virtual exhibition; specialist research reports the shield delivered to the Medici wardrobe by 7 September 1598 | Artwork |
| Narcissus, Attributed to Caravaggio | dependent on attribution; the Zeri catalogue gives a broad 1610–50 range under Spadarino | Artwork |
| Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence: Caravaggio's Missing Painting | somewhere in 1600–09 in the parliamentary report; a specific 1609 execution and place remain debated | Artwork |
| Penitent Mary Magdalene by Caravaggio | 1597 in the owner's catalogue, during Caravaggio's early Roman activity | Artwork |
| Portrait of a Courtesan: Caravaggio's Lost Berlin Portrait | Berlin's data field says c.1590, while its own text compares a Caravaggio work of c.1598; precise date unresolved | Artwork |
| Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and His Page by Caravaggio | — | Artwork |
| Portrait of Fra Antonio Martelli? Caravaggio's Pitti Knight of Malta | 1608 in the Restituzioni object heading; within Caravaggio's Malta period | Artwork |
| Portrait of Maffeo Barberini: The Seated Corsini Painting | c.1596–97 in the national catalogue | Artwork |
| Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini: Caravaggio's Newly Acquired Painting | around the late 1590s / age thirty; “1598” in the inherited address is approximate, not an exact document date | Artwork |
| Portrait of Pope Paul V: A Caravaggio Attribution and a Borghese Copy | — | Artwork |
| Prints After Caravaggio: Who Made Them and What They Show | — | Guide |
| Reclining Saint John the Baptist: A Disputed Caravaggio Attribution | often proposed for the artist's final years; the later museum list does not give a precise year. | Artwork |
| Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Caravaggio | about 1597 in the owner's catalogue | Artwork |
| Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Caravaggio: The Thyssen Painting | about 1598–99 in the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza catalogue | Artwork |
| Saint Francis in Meditation by Caravaggio: The Cremona Painting | 1603–06 in the owner account; c.1605–06 in a KHM exhibition caption | Artwork |
| Saint Francis in Prayer: Caravaggio's Carpineto Painting | 1606 in a 2016–17 exhibition work list | Artwork |
| Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy by Caravaggio | c.1595–96 in the owner wall text | Artwork |
| Saint Jerome in Meditation: Caravaggio's Montserrat Painting | 1605 in the owner record; an owner publication reports scholarship placing it about 1605–06 | Artwork |
| Saint Jerome Writing by Caravaggio: The Borghese Painting | c.1606 in the owner catalogue; the “1605” URL suffix is inherited | Artwork |
| Saint Jerome Writing by Caravaggio: The Malta Painting | around 1607–08; foundation dates Malaspina's commission to 1608 | Artwork |
| Saint John in the Wilderness at Toledo Cathedral | exact 1598 not established by the cited cathedral account. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at Galleria Corsini, Rome | about 1606 in the national record; older proposals ranged from the late 1590s onward. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at the Capitoline Museums, Rome | 1602. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at the Galleria Borghese | 1609–10 in the current Borghese record. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at the Spring: The Bonello Painting in Malta | early seventeenth century in the institutional account; a precise 1608 is not established there. | Artwork |
| Saint Matthew and the Angel: Caravaggio's Lost First Altarpiece | — | Artwork |
| Salome Receives the Head of John the Baptist: Caravaggio's London Painting | about 1609–10, likely late Naples period in the Gallery's account | Artwork |
| Salome with the Head of John the Baptist: Caravaggio's Madrid Painting | — | Artwork |
| Sleeping Cupid by Caravaggio: The Painting Made in Malta | about 1608, Malta period | Artwork |
| Still Life with Fruit on a Stone Ledge: Is It by Caravaggio? | — | Artwork |
| Supper at Emmaus (1606): Caravaggio's Brera Painting | — | Artwork |
| The Annunciation by Caravaggio in Nancy | c.1607–10 in the collection record; 1608–10 in the museum's restoration account | Artwork |
| The Basel Saint John the Baptist: Once Labelled Caravaggio, Now Maíno | about 1608–10 in that schedule, rather than the legacy URL's 1600. | Artwork |
| The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist by Caravaggio | about 1608; installed in the Oratory on 29 August 1608 | Artwork |
| The Burial of Saint Lucy by Caravaggio in Syracuse | 1608, during Caravaggio's Syracuse stay | Artwork |
| The Calling of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio | about 1599–1600 | Artwork |
| The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew by Caravaggio | about 1602–04 in the Trust's object text | Artwork |
| The Cardsharps by Caravaggio | about 1596–97 in the Kimbell's current object record | Artwork |
| The Conversion of Saint Paul: Caravaggio's Odescalchi Panel | commissioned in 1600; painted around 1600–01 | Artwork |
| The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew by Caravaggio | 1606–07 | Artwork |
| The Crucifixion of Saint Peter by Caravaggio | about 1601 | Artwork |
| The Death of the Virgin by Caravaggio | commissioned 1601; completed late 1605 or early 1606, according to the Louvre | Artwork |
| The Denial of Saint Peter by Caravaggio | 1610 | Artwork |
| The Doria Pamphilj Saint John the Baptist: A Second Youth with a Ram | linked compositionally to the Capitoline 1602 picture; an exact production year for this canvas is not established by the owner pages used here. | Artwork |
| The Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio: The Vatican Deposition | about 1600–04 in Vatican Museums publication material | Artwork |
| The Flagellation of Christ by Caravaggio: The Capodimonte Altarpiece | around 1607, in the first Naples period | Artwork |
| The Fortune Teller by Caravaggio: The Louvre Version and Its Roman Counterpart | — | Artwork |
| The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist by Caravaggio | early 1600s in the Met catalogue; no more exact owner date asserted here | Artwork |
| The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio | about 1601 in the SPSG presentation | Artwork |
| The Inspiration of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio | usually 1602; also catalogued 1602–03, for the installed final altarpiece | Artwork |
| The Lute Player by Caravaggio: The Hermitage Painting | about 1596 in the Hermitage collection publication; the Hermitage Friends restoration page gives about 1595–96 | Artwork |
| The Magdalen in Ecstasy: Caravaggio, Copies and a Disputed Original | — | Artwork |
| The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio | 1599–1600; unveiled with The Calling in 1600 | Artwork |
| The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula by Caravaggio | — | Artwork |
| The Musicians by Caravaggio | 1597 | Artwork |
| The Resurrection of Lazarus by Caravaggio in Messina | 1609; delivered 10 June 1609 in the owner account | Artwork |
| The Sacrifice of Isaac by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi: A Former Caravaggio Attribution | about 1615–17 in the Nicholas Hall catalogue; “1598” is an inherited URL label, not the accepted date | Artwork |
| The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio: The Uffizi Painting | about 1603 in the Uffizi catalogue | Artwork |
| The Seven Works of Mercy by Caravaggio | 1606–07, according to the Pio Monte | Artwork |
| The Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio: The London Painting | 1601 | Artwork |
| The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio | 1602 | Artwork |
| The Toulouse *Judith Beheading Holofernes*: A Caravaggio Attribution Debate | c.1606–07 if identified with the recorded Naples work; that identification is debated | Artwork |
| Young Sick Bacchus by Caravaggio | about 1595 in the Galleria Borghese catalogue | Artwork |
| Youth with a Ram: Why Caravaggio's Saint John Looks So Unusual | — | Artwork |
No matching pages found.
Discussion
Share a close observation about Salome Receives the Head of John the Baptist or a source that clarifies its history.
Which detail changes your reading?
Is there a collection record or document worth comparing?
What remains uncertain?
Join the Conversation
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Caravaggio's later Salome?
The later version is National Gallery, London, NG6389. Its online object record currently lists Room 32; check the gallery before visiting.[1]
When was it made?
The National Gallery dates it about 1609–10, probably in Caravaggio's final Naples period.[1]
How can I tell it from Madrid's Salome?
Is Salome ashamed in the painting?
Her sidelong glance invites several readings. The National Gallery discusses shame or disgust as possibilities but does not fix one certain emotion.[1]
References
- National Gallery, London, Caravaggio, Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist, NG6389.
- Galería de las Colecciones Reales, Caravaggio, Salomé con la cabeza del Bautista.
- St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation, Caravaggio paintings in Valletta.
- National Gallery, London, Caravaggio artist biography.
- Vatican, Mark 6:16–29.
- National Gallery, London, The Last Caravaggio 2024 exhibition.
- Patrimonio Nacional, 2023 Galería de las Colecciones Reales featured works dossier.
