The Dancer's Reward
by BEARDSLEY, Aubrey Vincent, Line block print on Japanese vellum, 342 x 272 mm
This line block print depicts Salome, enveloped in a long black robe adorned with roses and with a clasp made of roses and extravagantly curled hair. She is in front of a high circular table on which lies the severed and bloody head of John the Baptist (Jokanaan). Salome grasps some of his hair in her right hand, so the head is tilted back and gazes down upon it. There is a pair of slippers, presumably Salome’s, in the lower right-hand corner of the image.
The print is plate XIV from “A Portfolio of Aubrey Beardsley’s drawings illustrating Salome by Oscar Wilde.” First printed in 1894, this print is from the second edition, published by John Lane, 1907, London.