Décollation de saint Jean Baptiste

Juan de Flandes's Décollation de Saint Jean Baptiste (Beheading of John the Baptist) belongs to the altarpiece program he painted for Isabel the Catholic, Queen of Castile, whose court he served from around 1496 until her death in 1504. Juan de Flandes was probably a Flemish painter recruited to the Spanish court precisely for his mastery of the Netherlandish narrative panel tradition, and his small devotional panels for Isabel are among the most intimate and technically accomplished works produced in late 15th-century Spain. The Baptist's beheading — a scene combining the psychological drama of Salome's request with the physical reality of execution — gave Juan de Flandes scope for the narrative precision at which Flemish-trained painters excelled.

Juan de Flandes works at small scale with extraordinary surface precision: the dungeon setting is rendered with architectural accuracy, Salome's dress with Flemish textile detail, and the executioner's action with the careful anatomical observation that distinguishes his training from Spanish-trained contemporaries. His palette is brilliant and jewel-like.