Herodias 1627 - 1635

Editor: This is Francesco Cairo’s “Herodias,” painted between 1627 and 1635. It’s an oil painting housed at the Met. She has such a…troubled expression, yet she’s so still. What story do you see being told here? Curator: Well, let’s think about the visual language Cairo employs and its potential social reverberations. He uses dramatic chiaroscuro, a strong contrast between light and dark. How might that have affected its initial audiences, and what previous Baroque conventions does this call to mind? Editor: Caravaggio? It's very dramatic! But with her eyes closed it's like… internal drama. Was there a lot of interest in female interiority at this time? Curator: Indeed. In Baroque Italy, powerful women—particularly those painted by male artists—often become sites of contradictory projections. Herodias, of course, is a figure associated with violence and manipulation – what does it signify, do you think, to show her at this moment, seemingly in repose, bathed in an almost ethereal light? Editor: Maybe to emphasize a sort of conflicted feeling? Even evil women have feelings too, right? Is the public meant to feel pity? Or is it, perhaps, more about titillation – using a Biblical scene as an excuse to paint a sensual portrait? Curator: That's it exactly, a painting such as this exists at the intersection of pious morality, human emotion, and yes, sensual display. The museum here certainly plays a crucial role; where and how something is displayed, helps create its meaning. Editor: So it's not just about the artist’s intent, but the way it's presented to and received by the public, both then and now. Museums frame the narrative, quite literally. I’ll have to consider these multiple levels now when observing paintings.