Salome: The Image of a Woman Who Never Was Salome: The Image of a Woman Who Never Was; Salome: Nymph, Seducer, Destroyer By Rosina Neginsky Salome: The Image of a Woman Who Never Was; Salome: Nymph, Seducer, Destroyer, By Rosina Neginsky This book first published 2013 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2013 by Rosina Neginsky All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-4621-X, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-4621-9 To those who crave love but are unable to love. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations ..................................................................................... ix Epigraph: Poem “Salome” by Rosina Neginsky ........................................ xv Preface ...................................................................................................... xxi Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Part I: Creation of the Salome Myth Chapter One ................................................................................................. 8 History and Myth in the Biblical Story Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 23 The Evil Salome of Theology and Iconography: From the Church Fathers to the Renaissance Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 44 The Beautiful Salome in Renaissance Painting and Sculpture Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 71 The Seducer-Destroyer Salome of Nineteenth-Century Art and Literature Part II: Salome and the Head of John the Baptist in Artists’ Self-Portraits Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 92 Painting: Titian, Bernard, Moreau Chapter Six .............................................................................................. 125 Poetry: Stéphane Mallarmé viii Table of Contents Part III: Salome in Story, Drama, Music Chapter Seven .......................................................................................... 150 Salome’s Dance in Flaubert’s “Herodias”: Pictorial or Ekphrastic? Chapter Eight ........................................................................................... 167 Wilde’s Salome Chapter Nine ............................................................................................ 186 Wilde, Beardsley and Strauss Conclusion ............................................................................................... 207 Appendix One .......................................................................................... 210 Appendix Two ......................................................................................... 215 Selected Bibliography ............................................................................. 223 Index ........................................................................................................ 236 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Cover Vasilii Myazin, Salome with the head of John the Baptist, oil on canvas, 56 x 71 cm, circa 1980, private collection. Part I Chapter Two Fig. I-2-1. Herod’s Banquet and John the Baptist’s Decapitation, a sixth- century miniature in the Codex Sinopensis, BNF, France. Fig. I-2-2. Dancing Salome in the Évangéliaire de Chartres, the first part of the ninth century, BNF, France. Fig. I-2-3. Dancing Salome, mosaic, fourteenth century, San Marco, Venice, Italy, Scala/Art Resource, NY. Fig. I-2-4. Giovanni di Paolo, The Head of John the Baptist brought to Herod, tempera on panel, 68.5 x 40.2 cm, 1455/60, The Art Institute of Chicago. Fig. I-2-5. Giovanni di Paolo, John the Baptist’s Beheading, tempera on panel, 68.6 x 39.1 cm, 1455/60, The Art Institute of Chicago. Fig. I-2-6. Cesare da Sesto, Salome with the head of John the Baptist, poplar, 136.5 x 79.6 cm, fifteenth century, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemaeldegalerie, Vienna, Austria. Fig. I-2-7. Andrea Solario, Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, wood, 58.5 x 57.5 cm, sixteenth century, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemaeldegalerie, Vienna, Austria. Fig. I-2-8. Decapitation of John the Baptist, mosaic, thirteenth century, Florence Baptistery, Scala/Art Resources, New York. Fig. I-2-9. Bernardino Luini, Salome Receiving the Head of John the Baptist, oil on canvas, 62.5 x 55 cm, sixteenth century, Louvre, Departement des Peintures, Scala/Art Resource, New York. Fig. I-2-10. Bernardino Luini, Salome with the head of John the Baptist, poplar, 55.5 x 42.5 cm, late sixteenth century, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemaeldegalerie, Vienna, Austria. x List of Illustrations Fig. I-2-11. Salome Presenting the Head of John the Baptist to Herodias, mosaic, thirteenth century, Florence Baptistery, Scala/Art Resources, New York. Fig. I-2-12. Andrea Pisano, Salome Shows John’s Head to Herodias, 1330- 36, gilded bronze, 49.7 x 43.2 cm, panel from the South Door of the Florence Baptistery. Fig. I-2-13. Lorenzo Monaco, Herod’s Feast, Salome with the head of the Baptist, left wing of a predella for an altar in Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence, tempera on wood, 33.8 x 67.7 cm, 1387-1388, Louvre, Departement des Peintures. Chapter Three Fig. I-3-1. Donatello, The Feast of Herod, bronze relief, circa 1427, the Baptistery of the Siena Cathedral, Scala/Art Resource, New York. Fig. I-3-2. Filippo Lippi, The Banquet of Herod, fresco, 1465, Capella Maggiore of Santo Stefano Cathedral, Prato, Italy, Scala/Art Resource, New York. Fig. I-3-3. Rogier van der Weyden, Saint John Altarpiece, The Beheading of John the Baptist, rightmost panel, oil on oak panel, 77 x 48 cm, 1455-1460, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Scala/Art Resource, New York. Fig. I-3-4. Giotto, The Feast of Herod and The Presentation of the Head of John the Baptist, fresco, 280 x 450 cm, 1320, Santa Croce, Florence, Italy. Fig. I-3-5. Salome’s Dance, mosaic, thirteenth century, Florence Baptistery. Fig. I-3-6. John the Baptist’s Martyrdom, mosaic, thirteenth century, Florence Baptistery. Fig. I-3-7. Andrea Pisano, the South Doors of the Florence Baptistery, gilded bronze, 1330-36. Fig. I-3-8. Andrea Pisano, The Dance of Salome, gilded bronze, 49.7 x 43.2 cm, 1330-36, panel from the South Doors of the Florence Baptistery. Fig. I-3-9. Andrea Pisano, John’s Head is Shown to King Herod, gilded bronze, 1330-36, panel from the South Doors of the Florence Baptistery. Fig. I-3-10. Guido Reni, Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, oil on canvas, 248.5 x 174 cm, 1639/42, The Art Institute of Chicago. Salome: The Image of a Woman Who Never Was xi Chapter Four Fig. I-4-1. L. Levy-Dhurmer, Salome, 1896, pastel. Photo is located at the Victorian Web: http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/france/ld1.html. The website used the image from Patrick Bade, Femme Fatale: Images of Evil and Fascinating Women (NY: Mayflower Books, 1979). Fig. I-4-2. Gustave-Adolf Mossa, Salome. 1904. Photo: http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2011/01/24/mossa s-salomes/ Fig. I-4-3. Gustav-Adolf Mossa, Salome, 1906, Musée des Beaux Arts, Nice, France. Fig. I-4-4. Gustave-Adolf Mossa, Salome, 1908. Photo: http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2011/01/24/mossa s-salomes/ Fig. I-4-5. Franz Von Stuck, Salome Dancing, oil, 45.7 x 24.7 cm, 1906, private collection, Scala/Art Resource, New York. Fig. I-4-6. Pablo Picasso, Dancing Salome, drypoint on copper, 40 x 34.8 cm, 1905, BNF, Musée Picasso, Scala/Art Resource, New York. Fig. I-4-7. Henri Regnault, Salome, oil on canvas, 160 x 102.9 cm, 1870, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Scala/Art Resource, New York. Fig. I-4-8. Jean-Sylvain Bieth, Salome, three pieces, 1985-88, private collection. Fig. I-4-9. Sergei Chepik, Salome, oil on canvas, circa 1980, private collection. Part II Chapter Five Fig. II-5-1. Michelangelo, Last Judgment, detail, fresco, 1340 x 1200 cm, 1537-1541, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Scala/Art Resource, New York. Fig. II-5-2. Cristofano Allori, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, oil on canvas, 139 x 116 cm, 1613, Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence, Scala/Art Resource, New York. Fig. II-5-3. Titian, Salome, oil on canvas, 90 x 72 cm, 1515, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome, Scala/Art Resource, New York. Fig. II-5-4. Titian, Lavinia as Salome, oil on canvas, 87 x 80 cm, 1549, Museo del Prado, Madrid, Scala/Art Resource, New York. Fig. II-5-5. Emile Bernard, Salome with the Platter, oil on canvas, 1897, xii List of Illustrations reproduction taken from the book Gustave Moreau et le Symbolisme (Genève: Petit Palais, 1977). Fig. II-5-6. Emile Bernard, The Dancer or Salome, oil on canvas, 1914, Galerie Larock-Granoff, Paris, France. Fig. II-5-7. Gustave Moreau, Salome Dancing Before Herod, oil on canvas, 144 x 103.5 cm, 1876, The Hammer Museum, a public arts unit of the University of California, Los Angeles. Fig. II-5-8. Gustave Moreau, The Apparition, watercolor on paper, 106 x 72 cm, 1876, Cabinet des dessins, Louvre, Scala/Art Resource, New York. Fig. II-5-9. Gustave Moreau, Dancing Salome (Tattooed Salome), oil painting, 92 x 60 cm, 1876, Musée Gustave Moreau, Scala/Art Resource, New