Carlo Dolci's Salome: Baroque Allegory and Counter-Reformation

Introduction: Dolci, the Counter-Reformation, and the Subject of Salome

Carlo Dolci's Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist is an oil on canvas painting housed in the Phoenix Art Museum. Completed in Florence, Italy, in 1670, the painting reflects the Baroque style and the typical religious-historical subject matter associated with the Counter-Reformation underway throughout Europe. As part of the Council of Trent's mission, art was used to reinforce the principles and doctrines of the Church at a time when Protestantism was undermining its teaching authority (Vidmar). Salome appears as though disinterested in the disembodied head, offering it up to the viewer as though it were a piece of overripe fruit that one may or may not care to partake of.

Dolci's use of light reinforces the idea that Salome is by no means to be taken as a conflicted woman. Instead, her appearance follows the Church's traditional portrayal of Salome as a femme fatale — a symbol of female seduction whose sensuous form leaves a trail of bodies in its wake (Barr). This paper argues that Dolci uses sociopolitical and religious allegory, tenebrism, and chiaroscuro to dramatize a Counter-Reformation warning for his contemporaries: beware the seducers of the modern era. As a pious Catholic (Galardi, Sframeli), Dolci meant to communicate this message to his European audience at a time when many princes and kings were turning against the Pope and aligning themselves, as it were, with Salome and Herod — the slayers of St. John and the enemies of God.

Tenebrism and Chiaroscuro: Lighting as Moral Argument

A devout Catholic, Dolci specialized in religious subjects after the manner of Caravaggio (Galardi, Sframeli), using the chiaroscuro effect of heightening a single space on the canvas with a touch of light while casting the rest of the image in shadow or dark, neutral colors. The effect of this tenebrism is dramatic and enhances the theme in a way that evokes awe and wonder in the viewer. In Salome, Dolci contrasts light and dark not on the head of St. John the Baptist so much as on the chest, neck, and face of Salome, who is half-turned away from the head of the saint held up on the silver platter. By means of chiaroscuro, the eyes of the viewer are thus drawn to the woman responsible for the murder of the herald of the Redeemer.

Elegantly dressed in a sixteenth-century gown, Salome appears clad not like the Salome of the New Testament but rather like a young woman of high social standing in the early modern era — in other words, a contemporary of Dolci's own time. But why does she look away? Her inability to view her work might suggest that something within her is filled with regret, remorse, or dread as the gaze of the dead saint stares off into eternity, voicing a reminder to her conscience that she too will soon face what he now sees. However, the expression on her face suggests none of this — rather, it conveys a complete absence of compunction for the beheading of the saint and an utter indifference to the significance of the moment.

Salome's Detachment and the Femme Fatale Tradition

Her detachment and indifference are conveyed in the tilt of her head, which projects an affected nonchalance — a careless wantonness in keeping with her historical character. Dolci reinforces this characterization by casting all of the light on her most seductive features: her chest, neck, and face, which appear so serene and innocent and contrast sharply with the grisly disembodied head she holds aloft on the silver platter. The tools she employs to seduce are her physical features, which align her with the concept of the loose woman of the medieval tradition, whose body is a trap keeping men from salvation (Barr).

Her Biblical story recounts how she danced most seductively before Herod, who, in a fit of lust, told her he would grant her whatever she desired. At the urging of her mother — condemned by St. John for her incestuous relationship with Herod — Salome asked for the saint's head on a platter. This story is encapsulated in Dolci's use of lighting: he reminds his contemporaries, who would have been thoroughly familiar with her story, of her charms. Her gown is low-cut and her shoulders are bare — a symbol of lasciviousness. Her alabaster neck shines like a light, and her soft face and cheeks offset the total disinterest visible in her eyes. It is a horrifying portrait of human indifference, and an indication of the urgency that Dolci and other Counter-Reformation artists felt to use their art as a warning against being lured into a similar state by false teachers rising up across Europe — from Luther to Calvin to Knox and Zwingli.

Conclusion

Dolci's Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist is a Baroque work by a Counter-Reformation Florentine painter. It symbolizes the dramatic era in which it was painted, using the style of Caravaggio — tenebrism and chiaroscuro — to highlight a significant feature of the painting, enhance it dramatically, and express a layered sociopolitical and religious symbolism. The finely and richly dressed Salome, clad in a sixteenth-century gown, represents the contemporary slayer of and antagonist toward the Church, itself represented by St. John the Baptist, whose head rests upon a platter.

Works Cited

Barr, Beth Allison. The Pastoral Care of Women in Late Medieval England. Boydell Press, 2008.

Elton, G. R. Reform and Reformation: England, 1509–1558. Harvard University Press, 1977.

Galardi, Giusti, and Maria Sframeli. Artists' Self-Portraits from the Uffizi. Skira, 2007.

Laux, John. Church History. Benziger Brothers, 1933.

Vidmar, J. The Catholic Church through the Ages. Paulist Press, 2005.

Illus. 1. Carlo Dolci, Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist, 1670, Oil on Canvas, Phoenix Art Museum.