Salome receives the head of Saint John the Baptist,
oil on canvas, 128 x 175 cm, framed

Gianni Papi, to whom we are grateful, has attributed this previously unknown and unpublished Salome to Hendrick ter Brugghen (written communication). He dates this painting to around 1611 or 1612, during the intriguing Italian sojourn of ter Brugghen, documented from 1608 to 1614.

Ter Brugghen’s stay in Italy is recorded, but no work for this period has been universally accepted. Papi, has attempted to construct and define an understanding of ter Brugghen’s Italian period which allows the painter to be considered as one of the most innovative artists active in Rome during the years in which the naturalism of Caravaggio was beginning to be diffused.

Ter Brugghen is recorded in Milan in 1614, preparing for his return journey to the Netherlands. He is recorded as having spent some years in Italy and it is thought that he may have arrived in Italy circa 1604 or 1605, at the age of sixteen or seventeen. It is also documented that ter Brugghen met Rubens in Rome, which implies that he must have been there by 1606. As such he would have been the only member of the Utrecht Caravaggisti to have arrived in Rome while Caravaggio was still active there (see C. de Brie, Den Spiegel van der verdrayde werelt, Antwerp 1708).

Papi compares the present painting to other paintings with stylistic similarities that he has also attributed to ter Brugghen’s Italian years. At the centre of this group is the Denial of Saint Peter and the Adoration of the Shepherds, in the Spier collection, London, which Papi dates to circa 1611–1612 (see G. Papi, in: Gherardo delle Notti. Quadri bizzarrissimi e cene allegre, exhibition catalogue, Florence 2015, pp. 134–135, cat. no.5).

The hands of the kneeling shepherd in the Adoration and the those of the soldier near the fire of the Denial are large, red and swollen and can be compared to those of the executioner holding the head of the Baptist in the present painting. Papi also notes stylistic similarities with the Saint John the Evangelist, in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin (inv. no. 100), that he also attributes to ter Brugghen’s Italian period. The rendering of the whites in his shirt may also be found in the executioner’s shirt in this painting, which appear even brighter in comparison to the areas of deep shadow created by the folds. Also, comparable is the face of Saint John the Evangelist. The sleeves of Salome’s robes, painted in green with intricate folds, can be compared to those of Pilate in Pilate washing his hands in Lublino.

In Papi’s opinion the head of the Baptist and his slightly concave nose are typical of ter Brugghen’s facial types. Also typical is the dramatic scene portrayed in the centre of the composition, depicting dripping blood on a metal tray, painted with rapid and essential brushstrokes that confer brightness to the metal object. The intense expression on the face of the young executioner, is painted with confident brush strokes and located almost entirely in the shadow, with the rounded convex line of the jaw illuminated by the light.

In Italy and probably especially in Rome, ter Brugghen reveals an astonishingly expressive force. The ductus of the present painting is quick and confident, and the brushstrokes are sculptural, giving an idea of how the artist would have later evolved in Utrecht. However, at the same time, the work differs from a style that he would develop in Holland. The positive influence of the naturalism derived from Caravaggio gave the Dutch painter a severity, force, and dramatic style that was far from the flourishes and the exaggerated physiognomies of his Northern heritage, which the artist used during his years at Utrecht.