Herod's Banquet

This 1457 Herod's Banquet depicts the feast at which Salome demanded the head of John the Baptist, one of the most dramatic episodes in Lippi's fresco cycle at Prato Cathedral. The subject allowed Lippi to demonstrate his skill in rendering architectural settings and elaborate courtly scenes Oil on canvas, increasingly preferred over panel in the sixteenth century, offered greater flexibility for large-scale compositions The work is now in the collection of Prato Cathedral.

The narrative composition combines architectural perspective with dramatic figural action, demonstrating Lippi's mature mastery of fresco narrative painting.