Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Beheading of John the Baptist

Rembrandt van Rijn

Date

1640

Medium

Etching

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Beheading of John the Baptist portrays the events told in the Gospel of Mathew (14:3-1). Rather than concentrating on the gory decapition or the presentation of John's bloody head, Rembrandt chose the moment when the executioner has raised his sword and turned his body, ready to swing, a moment when John anticipated his fate. It was a moment when the act did not have to occur, when the executioner cold have relented, when Herod--who looks on frm the shadows--could have have called a halt to the madness. The executioner has tossed off his coat and rolled up his sleeves, ready to do his job. He trains his gaze on the vulnerable John, who kneels facing away from him. John is bare from the waist up. His camelskin cloak is wrapped around his loins. His cruciform staff lies on the ground, with the scroll proclaiming the Messiah's arrival still attached. With eyes closed and head lowered, he clasps his hands in prayer. At right, an African boy holds the charger that will soon bear John's head. Immediately above John we can make out two women. Though the biblical account does not place them at the site of the execution, they are probably Herodias and Salome, who set the tragic events in motion. Netherlands, Europe

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