King David’s Letter

Bathsheba receiving King David’s letter (c. 1659) by the Dutch painter Jan Steen (c.1626–1679). Steen shows here a typical Dutch bourgeois woman who shows triumphing king David’s letter, meaning that she will have success with her plan.

Ghoulish Salome

Here a contemporary interpretation (2007) of the old myth of Salome and St. John the Baptist by the Polish artist Joanna Chrobak (born 1968). Salome looks like a pale ghoulish ghost contemplating sadly her trophy. A great painting in the best Polish surrealist tradition.