The Feast of Herod (recto); Tomyris with the Head of Cyrus (verso)
c. 1637–38
- Medium
- pen and brown ink, with black and red chalk, touched with white gouache
- Dimensions
- 27.2 × 47.2 cm
- Status
- In Museum Collection
- Collect24 Art ID
- C24-191572
Peter Paul Rubens had a large studio in Antwerp and used drawing to prepare for large paintings as well as to direct the many pupils who assisted him. Striking in its immediacy, the drawing on the recto of this sheet of paper is a preparatory study for the Feast of Herod painting now at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. Herod, wearing a large cap and wrapped in a mantle, shrinks back in horror as Salome uncovers a charger that holds the head of Saint John the Baptist. Smiling, Herodias grabs the platter with her left hand and, in a chilling detail, gestures toward the charger with a…
Provenance
Holden Funds, 1954.2
Registry history
- c. 1637–38 — Recorded in the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art — drawings
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