Depicting Salome with the head of St. John the Baptist, this painting marked the beginning of a series of female power and women’s wiles. Salome, Judith, Dalila, Lucrecia, and other figures or scenes, highlighted by the beauty of the models and the black or dark background, exude eroticism, a characteristic feature of the painter’s universe. 

In this painting, you can see her in a sensual pose with the head of John the Baptist almost as a prop. This shows someone that has not a conscious understanding of the severity of what she has done. Her red dress and regal collar contrast with the dark background and especially with the greyish tone of the dead head of John the Baptist. The idea here is to contrast her beauty and innocent appearance with the dark act committed. 

According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Salome is the daughter of Herodias and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas, ruler appointed by Rome of Galilee, a region in Palestine. In Biblical literature, Salome is remembered as the immediate agent in the execution of John the Baptist. She was twice married, first to the tetrarch Philip, a half brother of her father, Herod Philip, and a son of Herod I the Great and then to Aristobulus son of Herod of Chalcis.