 Salome, the beautiful daughter of Herodias, is here seen dancing before King Herod. At the right stands Herodias, who has sworn to achieve the death of John the Baptist for his rebuke of her incestuous marriage with Herod Antipas. The drunken monarch offers her whatsoever she may request. Her mother is seen instructing her to ask for the head of John the Baptist. The slave is seen bringing the ghastly head of John, which Salome passes to her mother, who seizes it with delight and hideously laughs over the gory trophy.