Flemish school: The feast of Herod, oil on copper, late 17th C.

Work: 116 x 87,5 cm

Frame: 149 x 122 cm

The painting offered here is a late 17th-C. replicate of the work 'The feast of Herod' by Rubens, dated ca. 1635-1638, and since 1958 in the collection of the National Galleries Scotland, Edinburgh, inv./cat.no NG 2193. Compared to the original version, the head of John the Baptist is not on the tray offered by Salomé, but a real feast, namely the head of a wild boar (link). This depiction was very popular and was distributed in print by the French engraver, printmaker and publisher François Regot (1638-1670) in the third quarter of the 17th century, which only increased the popularity of the image (link).