Virginia Vezzi, student and wife of the French Caravaggist painter Simon Vouet, is one of the most intriguing figures of the Roman Baroque. Vezzi frequently served as a model for her husband—appearing throughout his oeuvre as various biblical figures and mythological heroines. However, her career as a painter in her own right has only recently become the subject of scholarly attention.

This striking work on copper by Vezzi may be a self-portrait as Salome, the Jewish princess who asked Herod to execute Saint John the Baptist, requesting the Baptist’s head on a platter. If this is indeed a self-portrait, Vezzi would be following a tradition of women artists painting themselves in the guise of strong and powerful women. Most prominent of these is Artemisia Gentileschi, whom Vezzi befriended in Rome in the 1620s. Our painting dates from Vezzi’s French period, during which time she resided in the Louvre with her husband.

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