National Galleries of Scotland: National

This guide to the National Galleries of Scotland's main building centers on one enormous canvas by Peter Paul Rubens, painted in Antwerp in the sixteen-thirties: a birthday feast thrown by King Herod, a stepdaughter's dance, and the reckless promise he makes her in front of the whole table. You'll hear about her mother Herodias, an old grudge against a preacher held in the dungeon below, and how the painting only reached this Edinburgh gallery in nineteen fifty-eight. Stand close to the canvas and study the thirteen figures crowded around that table before you look for Herod's face.