Zebedee Zebedee Zebedee (, "Zebedaios", ; , "Zvad'yah", ), according to all four Canonical gospels, was the father of James and John, two disciples of Jesus. The gospels also suggest that he was the husband of Salome: whereas Mark 15:40 names the women present at the crucifixion as "Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome", the parallel passage in has "Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children." The "Catholic Encyclopedia" concludes that the Salome of Mark 15:40 is probably identical with the mother of
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (Caravaggio, London) a different painting of the same subject (see "Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (Madrid)"). The handling and the raking light link this painting to works done in Naples during the artist's brief stay in the city during 1606–1607, an impression confirmed by the blances between Salome and the Virgin in the "Madonna of the Rosary", and between the executioner holding the head of the Baptist and one of the two torturers in "Christ at the Column" and "The Flagellation of Christ". From November to February 2012–2013 this painting was part of the exhibition "Bodies and Shadows: Caravaggio