Painting date: 1887
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 259 x 180 cm
Location: formerly in the Forbes Magazine Collection, New York, USA

Mariamne (c. 57-29 BC), Jewish princess, a popular heroine in both Jewish and Christian traditions, whose marriage (37 BC) to the Judean king Herod the Great united his family with the deposed Hasmonean royal family (Maccabees) and helped legitimize his position. At the instigation of his sister Salome and Mariamne's mother, Alexandra, however, Herod had her put to death for adultery. Later, he also executed her two sons, Alexander and Aristobulus.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica.