An extraordinary example of the peculiar and vast female universe of Cranach’s work, in which grace and voluptuousness can be emblems of virtue or seductive perversion.
Depicting Salome with the head of St. John the Baptist, this painting marked the beginning of a series of works by the painter devoted to the theme of female power and women’s wiles. Salome, Judith, Dalila, Lucrecia and other figures or scenes, highlighted by the beauty of the models and the black or dark backgrounds, exude eroticism, a characteristic feature of the painter’s universe and a powerful reason for explaining his fame and triumphant success.
A contemporary of Dürer, Holbein, Altdorfer, Baldung Grien and Grunewald, as well as sculptors such as Veit Stoss or Riemenschneider, Cranach rounded off the golden generation of the German Renaissance, since, of all its artists, he was the one who lived longest and had the most productive career.