Menu Close

PAG2-moreau-apparition-jpg

This is a halftone reproduction of the Moreau watercolour of the Apparition (not to be confused with the similar but different oil painting of the same title and subject), in which Salome is confronted with the severed head of John the Baptist at King Herod’s court. Salome stands in the foreground to the left of the image in a revealing jewel-encrusted gown. She wears a jeweled corset with nothing covering her breasts, an elaborate shawl, necklace, and bracelets. The floral skirt parts at the hip to reveal her left leg with her bare foot and jeweled ankle visible to the viewer. She has an elaborate crown on her head and a long braid of hair falling down her back. She is in three-quarter profile facing right toward the head of John the Baptist, which hangs mid-air in the right foreground, with light radiating around it like a star or the sun. Blood is dropping from his neck and he is in profile facing Salome. Behind Salome, a man with a large hat draped in cloth sits in profile facing left on what appears to be a throne, suggesting he is Herod. He is facing right but looking downward. Sitting beside Herod on the ground in front of his throne, a woman gazes up with a worried look on her face at the severed head; likely this is Herodias, Salome’s mother. In the background, to the direct right of Salome, another woman sits on the ground playing a lute. To the right of the severed head a guard stands, with long robes, a bare chest and cloth wrapped around his head, obscuring his face. He leans on a spear to his right with both hands resting on it. In the background a decorated column, arched doorway, and tall decorated walls are visible, suggesting that they are in the throne room of the palace.