Salome Receiving the Head of Saint John

Adam Elsheimer painted his famous nocturnal scenes during his 10 years in Rome. In this engraving by Hendrik Goudt, Elsheimer's torch-lit tableau became a tiny oval charged with solemnity. The only sign of Salome's guilt is the sword skimming her back. Elsheimer may have been inspired to undertake this subject in 1604, the year Pope Clement VIII settled a dispute between Amiens Cathedral in France and San Silvestro in Capite in Rome about which church had the definitive relic of John the Baptist's head-a dispute in which France came out ahead.