# Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist, in Guido Reni

Guido Reni painted this in about 1639–42, aged about 59. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

From the museum's label:

> Guido Reni was the most famous and successful Italian painter of his day. This painting depicts Salome receiving the head of John the Baptist on a platter, the gruesome reward she chose for having pleased her stepfather, Herod, by performing a seductive dance.

_Text from the Art Institute of Chicago._

[Read the full label](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/salome-with-the-head-of-saint-john-the-baptist-aic-11434#about-work)

## The work

- Date: c. 1639–42
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 248.5 × 174 cm (97 3/4 × 68 1/2 in.); Framed: 285 × 210.2 × 8.9 cm (112 3/16 × 82 3/4 × 3 1/2 in.)
- Type: Painting
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1960.3
- Licence: CC0 1.0

## The artist

[Guido Reni](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/guido-reni), Italian, 1575–1642

Reni trained in Bologna, first with Denys Calvaert and then at the Carracci academy, and spent the early 1600s in Rome, where his fresco Aurora won wide fame.

6 works in the collection.

## Walk on

- [Guido Reni's contemporaries](https://www.ochreeditions.com/galleries/artist/contemporaries-of-guido-reni?hang=748) (8 works)
- [More Baroque](https://www.ochreeditions.com/galleries/style/baroque?hang=748) (32 works)
- [17th-century Italy](https://www.ochreeditions.com/galleries/era/17-italy?hang=748) (39 works)

## Get it

- [Print this work](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/salome-with-the-head-of-saint-john-the-baptist-aic-11434#print)
- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/21.jpg?dl=1
- [The work's page](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/salome-with-the-head-of-saint-john-the-baptist-aic-11434)