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"The Toilette of Salome" was illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley for the 1894 English translation of Oscar Wilde's French play, Salome: A Tragedy in One Act. The image is a full-page, bordered plate, printed on Japanese vellum via half-tone printing, and features Beardsleys signature black and white curvilinear style. In addition, Beardsley's emblematic signature is located in the bottom right of the image. The illustration depicts Salome in her bathroom, being groomed by a masked Harlequin-Pierrot figure. Despite the text of Wilde's play taking place during biblical times, Beardsley has rendered Salome in Victorian-era dress among other objects contemporary to the 1890s, such as books by Emile Zola and Paul Verlaine. The image is most notable, then, for its apparent dislocation and asynchronicity in relation to Wilde's text. Being part of the Aesthetic movement of the time that believed in "art for art's sake," it is not outside the realm of the possible that Beardsley drew Salome in this way simply because it is beautiful. However, a closer inspection reveals of the relationship between the image and its adjacent text reveals some crucial connections between the way Beardsley represents Salome and the changes in Salome's character in Wilde's text.

The illustration occurs right of page 48—a pivotal moment of the text where Herod, lustfully wanting his step-daughter Salome to dance for him, changes his tactics from demanding to bargaining. He offers her anything she wants, even half his kingdom in exchange for a dance. In response, Salome changes her tone from a firm denial, to seeing an opportunity to fulfill her desire of having the prophet Jokanaan executed. This change in Salome's attitude is suggested by Beardsley with the satisfied smirk she wears in the illustration. Her posture, turning as if to face the opposite page, is not one of rest but looks as if she is about to rise from her chair, perhaps to enact her newly hatched plan to manipulate Herod. The dynamic curve of Salome's dress skirt also adds to the appearance of action. Thus, while it appears to be a merely decorative image, Beardsley's illustration maintains a connection to Wilde's text by visibly representing Salome's attainment of a personal agency to have her desires fulfilled. Finally, that Salome is rendered as a Victorian woman encourages contemporary readers to form connections between Salome (both the play as a whole and its eponymous protagonist) and Victorian culture, especially as it relates to the agency and desires of women.

Source:

http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/beardsley/primorac.html

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78219/the-toilette-of-salome-ii-print-beardsley-aubrey-vincent/