# Scenes from the Life of St John the Baptist: 3. Feast of Herod [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [GIOTTO di Bondone]() - Date: 1301-1350 - Technique: Fresco, 280 x 450 cm ## Commentary Scenes from the Life of St John the Baptist: 3. Feast of Herod c. 1315 Fresco, 280 x 450 cm Peruzzi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence The banquet takes place in a splendid open hall, decorated with small marble figures. John the Baptist is beheaded at the request of the dancing Salome. In contrast to the festiveness of the scene, Giotto increases the brutality of the events through the gestures, culminating in the encounter between Herod and the henchman, who hands him the severed head as if it were a dish of fare. Even although the surface of the faces is badly damaged, this moment of horror and outrage is still clear: plates, hands, dishes and head form an alarmingly brutal unity, over which soldier and king look at one another. ## Related artworks - [Allegory of Chastity \(detail\)]() - [Allegory of Chastity \(detail\)]() - [Allegory of Chastity \(detail\)]() - [Allegory of Obedience \(detail\)]() - [Allegory of Obedience \(detail\)]() - [Allegory of Poverty \(detail\)]() - [Allegory of Poverty \(detail\)]() - [Allegory of Poverty \(detail\)]() - [Apocalyptic Christ]() - [Ascension of Christ]() - [Badia Polyptych]() - [Baroncelli Polyptych: Coronation of the Virgin]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()