Inscribed top edge HORREOQVVMCVPIAM,
Oil on panel, 63.5cm by 53cm.
In Christian tradition, Salome is the personification of female seductiveness. Her dance before King Herod, for which she was rewarded with the head of St. John the Baptist, who had resisted her advances, has frequently inspired artists. This painting was acquired by the 9th Earl of Exeter through James Byres in Rome as by Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533).