French school of the late seventeenth century. School of PIERRE MIGNARD (Troyes, 1612-Paris, 1695)."Portrait of a lady like Salome".Oil on canvas. Relined.Measurements: 125 x 94 cm.The present work is set in France at the end of the 17th century, specifically in the school of Pierre Mignard, representing a lady as Salome. Salome was a princess, daughter of Herod Philip and Herodias, and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas, related to the death of St. John the Baptist in a story told in the New Testament (Matthew and Mark). Herodias, wife of Herod Philip, married in a scandalous way with the half-brother of this one, Herod Antipas, which provoked a war, since Herod Antipas had repudiated for it his previous wife, daughter of the Nabataean monarch. The attitude of the new marriage was very criticized by the people, since it was considered sinful, and one of those who most denounced it was John the Baptist, for which he was arrested, although Herod did not dare to execute him for fear of the popular wrath. According to tradition, Salome, a woman of great beauty, danced for her stepfather, and he enthusiastically offered to grant her the prize she desired. Then the young woman asked, following her mother's instructions, for the Baptist's head, which was given to her "on a silver platter". This biblical story has often been depicted in painting, as it offers the possibility of depicting exotic settings and half-naked women without abandoning the biblical repertoire.Pierre Mignard's first training took place with Jean Boucher in Bourges and then, in 1633, he moved to Simon Vouet's studio in Paris. Two years later he went to Rome, where he arrived in 1636 and where he remained for more than twenty years, until October 1657. There he became acquainted with the greatest standard-bearers of classical idealism, such as Domenichino or Nicolas Poussin, whose painting was based on the study of the sculptures of Antiquity and the works of Raphael passed through the sieve of Annibale Carracci. However, Mignard did not fail to be attentive to other novelties in the trends of Roman painting of his time, such as neo-Venetianism. His interest in the great Venetian masters of the previous century was so strong that it prompted him to make a trip to the lake city and northern Italy in 1654 and 1655. In 1657 he returned to France, passing through Avignon and Fontainebleau - where he portrayed Louis XIV - before arriving in Paris. Portraiture was the genre in which he excelled, and he gained a great reputation with the representations of prominent court figures in elegant allegorical compositions. Nor did he disdain historical painting, the most honorable genre according to contemporary academic postulates; at the same time he carried out works of great commitment, such as the decoration of the dome of the abbey of Val-de-Grâce (Paris) for Anne of Austria in 1663, where he was able to apply the teachings of Giovanni Lanfranco that he had received in Rome. The death of the minister Colbert caused the undisputed fortune that the first painter Charles Le Brun had enjoyed until then to decline, and the rise to power of Louvois, Mignard's protector, placed him in an ideal position to obtain royal rewards. From then on, his courtly success only increased and Le Brun's death in 1690 made him the king's first painter and director of the Academy. The Prado Museum preserves several works related to Pierre Mignard, all from the royal collections.