According to the New Testament, Herod Antipas imprisoned John the Baptist for criticizing his marriage to his brother's wife, Herodias. During a feast, Herod promised Salome, Herodias's daughter, anything she desired for her dance. Prompted by her mother, Salome asked for John the Baptist's head on a platter.

The icon painter gives little concession to the narrative. He does not tell the story literally but takes us into a dream-like other world. This transforms it into a spiritual event. There is a mystery here only comprehensible in the state of consciousness accessible through mystical contemplation. The beheading is depicted with rhythms and colours that are not violent or gruesome and taking place on a rocky mountain incongruously out of scale with the delicate pink sanctuary looking like spun sugar and half-hidden behind a wooden stockade. Most incongruous of all is the compassionate and loving regard bestowed by the executioner as he arrests St John. John himself in both scenes displays passive, even willing, acceptance (see detail). All this takes place under the gaze of Christ who looks on from the Divine Realm symbolised by the ring of clouds forming a lunette beneath the upper border.