record thinking the main figure to be Judith. If the painting's main figure was Herodias, traditionally seen as the prime mover of the conspiracy to get John the Baptist executed, the younger woman next to her would be intended to represent her daughter Salome, here shown as a figure in thrall to her more glamorous mother. The identification as Herodias seems to have no recent supporters, but that as Judith does. A medieval addition to the Salome legend held that, as well as her mother's hatred of John for his preaching against her, Salome was also motivated by a frustrated love for John, to which the cupid might refer. Her face is turned away from his head, but her eyes look back to it. Panofsky describes her as: "Meditative, sad and a little benumbed, she seems to recoil from the face of St. John which yet attracts her sidelong glances with irresistible force". Meanwhile, the maid "looks at the heroine with the eyes of a faithful dog who feels and shares his master's distress without comprehending its cause". Thus, in the pyramidal group of figures, the glances flow from the maid on the left, up to Salome at centre, and down to John at right, whose dead eyes are closed. The use of erotic allure on male figures of power is the core of both stories, but to the church and Titian's contemporaries, Herodias and Salome were bad, but Judith a heroine. Both stories were part of the repertoire of the Power of Women topos, mainly a feature of German art in this period, but whose subjects were also depicted in Italy. The small Cupid at the top of the arch reinforces the eroticism of the treatment, suggesting either Salome's lust for John, (or Herod's implied attraction to Salome) or that of Holfernes for Judith, according to choice. It has also been suggested that the use of cupids on the keystone of arches was common in public buildings of the period in Venice, which "stresses the official nature of St. John's imprisonment and execution". The presence of a maidservant is usual in depictions of Judith (following the Book of Judith, which mentions her), but not in those of Salome with the head of John the Baptist. On the other hand, the head on a dish is normally associated with Salome's story, and is mentioned in the gospel, while Judith often