In this early masterpiece, Titian has portrayed Salome in the company of a handmaid, with the tray on which, according to the Gospel text, Salome delivered the head of John the Baptist to Herodias. Her red hair falls in languid disarray on her shoulder, as suits the step-daughter of Herod, renowned for her qualities as a dancer, and she bears a dreamy and almost questioning expression, which does not seem to fit the strong-willed and fearless heroine, Judith, whom some authorities have identified as being the female figure represented in the picture.

The iconographic group of the cut-off head on the dish literally transcribes the Bible story of the death of John the Baptist, as illustrated in another celebrated article by Panofsky (Studies in Iconology, 1939).

Thus, in Germany and northern Italy, the intimate iconographic association between the themes of Judith and Salome became widespread, in such a way as to create an autonomous image, iconic and devotional in nature.

The scene is inflamed by the fiery red of the mantle of the girl, displaying the real temperament of Titian, who stirs the viewer with chromatic matches and vibrant tonal palette.

The work was already listed at the end of the nineteenth century in the catalogue of Pordenone (Cavalcaselle, 1878) and then in that of Giorgione (Justi, 1908), and is a splendid juvenile example of Titian, as was realized first by Morelli (1892), whose opinion was then unanimously accepted.

In spite of the proven signature, the work presents several critical problems, starting with its provenance and going on to the subject illustrated, themes which are furthermore linked to each other. In fact, according to the fidei-commissum catalogue of Sestieri (1942), the canvas, a “Herodias”, was included in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery only from 1794 onwards, having belonged to Prince Salviati, to Queen Christina of Sweden and to Prince Odescalchi.

This passage of ownership was subsequently denied by Wethey (1969; cfr. also Della Pergola, 1960), who identifies the Doria “Salome” as a “Herodias” documented in 1592 in the collection of Lucrezia d’Este, which then passed to Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini and from him to his niece, Olimpia Aldobrandini, princess of Rossano and wife of Camillo Pamphilj. It then passed to their son, Giovan Battista, who inherited the possessions of the Aldobrandini family through the maternal line.