Episode 8 | Martyrdom | Saint John the Baptist: From Birth to Beheading | National Gallery, London

John the Baptist is the only figure in the New Testament to die before Jesus Christ; his beheading is one of the most dramatic scenes represented in the history of art. Art historian Jennifer Sliwka and theologian Ben Quash visit St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Malta to see one of the most famous representations of the Baptist’s martyrdom, Caravaggio’s altarpiece for the Knights of Malta. They discuss the events leading up to his beheading and the increasing prominence of Salome in depictions of the Baptist’s fi