2-743-784 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Dance at the Court of Herod, c. 1500. The major episodes of the story of Salome—the beheading of Saint John the Baptist and the presentation of the severed head by Salome to Herod—are relegated to the upper left and right corners of the composition. In a novel inversion of the New Testament narrative, the dance of Salome and the merry group of patricians performing a courtly dance are placed in the foreground. From left to right, the trio plays a curved cornet, pipe, tabor, and slide trumpet.