Add to Collection

Add this item to an existing or new collection.
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
Princess Salome, wearing an elaborate gown and hairpiece, gazes at and speaks to John the Baptist.

This black ink drawing shows two figures side-by-side. On the right is Princess Salome, wearing a long, richly-decorated gown, her breasts and midriff left exposed. On her head is a coiled, filigree-like hairpiece with protruding horns. She looks to her right and speaks to the other figure, the prophet John the Baptist, who wears a simple black gown. John’s long, unruly black hair drapes over his bare shoulder as he looks down, returning Salome’s gaze.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.651
People
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley, British (Brighton, England 1872 - 1898 Menton, France)
Title
John and Salome; verso: illegible sketch
Other Titles
Series/Book Title: Salome
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1893
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/297868

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black ink and graphite on white wove paper; verso: graphite
Dimensions
23.3 x 16.4 cm (9 3/16 x 6 7/16 in.)

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Zatlin 867

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.651
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

  • Joseph Pennell, Catalogue of an Exhibition of Original Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley, exh. cat., Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, NY, 1923), no. 34
  • A.M. Hammacher, Phantoms of the Imagination: Fantasy in Art and Literature from Blake to Dali, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1981), p. 102, repr. fig. 83
  • Frederick Hartt, Art: A History of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1989), fig. 1161, p. 878
  • Linda Gertner Zatlin, Aubrey Beardsley and Victorian Sexual Politics, The Clarendon Press (Oxford, England, 1990), p. 119, fig. 75
  • Mark Samuels Lasner, "The Pursuit of the Rare: Three Early Beardsley Collectors", Gazette of the Grolier Club (2000), no. 51, p. 17, note 34
  • Chikashi Kitazaki and Mina Oya, ed., Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., National Museum of Western Art (Ueno, 2002), cat. no. 48-5, repr. (color)
  • Linda Gertner Zatlin, Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné, Yale University Press (U.S.) (New Haven and London, 2016), vol. 2, no. 867, pp. 6, 11, 21, 23-25, 32, 47, repr. p. 24

Exhibition History

  • An Exhibition of Original Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley, Brooklyn Museum, 12/19/1923 - 01/31/1924; Milwaukee Art Institute, 10/01/1924 - 10/30/1924; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, 11/01/1924 - 11/30/1924; Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, 11/29/1924 - 12/31/1924
  • Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 09/14/2002 - 12/08/2002
  • 32Q: 2100 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/17/2016 - 11/01/2017

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu