 Erwin Panofsky suggested the head of John the Baptist might be a self-portrait, and it is possible that Titian was alluding to his private life with the model, anticipating Cristofano Allori's, "Judith with the Head of Holofernes" (1613, Royal Collection, and other versions), where the severed head was a self-portrait and Judith and the maid portraits of his ex-mistress and her mother.The model here, allowing for a degree of idealization, has been said to be the same used in the "Dresden Venus" (Giorgione and Titian, c. 1510).This composition was copied many times, in some cases at least by Titian's workshop.