Salome

8x10 oil on board

Two women, my wife and a  friend, looking at Henri Regnault's great "Salome" which was purchased and given to the Metropolitan Museum even 'though the French were raising money to keep it in their country.  It was a sensation at the 1870 Salon and even more desirable to keep in France because Regnault died in combat during the Franco-Prussian War (which France lost, by the way) soon after painting it.  He was still in his twenties.   He originally painted the top half from an Italian model and then added more canvas to the bottom half and the Salome theme.  She is holding a plate and a knife (to use on John the Baptist) and has a happy, sexy, somewhat out of it facial expression as if she hasn't thought much about what she is about to do.  It's kind of spooky.  Regnault tried these brilliant colors in a few other paintings, but they work best here.