Judith victorious

Oil on canvas

97 x 77 cm.

In antique frame 114 x 92 cm.

The work is a fascinating portrait of the heroine Judith: alone and victorious at the centre of the painting, the woman is depicted without clothes but with precious ornaments and jewels, the sword still fiercely clutched in one hand and the head of Holofernes in the other.

This iconographic subject was very popular during the Renaissance, especially in Northern Europe (see the series on the subject by Lucas Cranach), as it suited the taste of the time for the representation of strong passions, often fatal, while embodying great moral values.

Specifically, it's about the biblical episode of the beautiful and courageous Jewish widow Judith killing the Babylonian general Holofernes to free her people from foreign domination. Her astute plan consists of being welcomed into the enemy camp pretending to want to ally herself with them: her intelligence combined with her extraordinary beauty are her pass. Following a lavish banquet organised in her honour, she takes advantage of the tyrant being drunk and asleep to kill him.

There is an evident discrepancy between the composed self-satisfaction at her success, and the grace and calm of the woman with her head cut off in the foreground: the drama is there, but it is as if it has been put in the background by the author who here has preferred to emphasise the heroine rather than the event itself, focusing our attention and our gaze on the virtues of Judith, who through her courage managed to defeat evil.

The representation is therefore symbolic: despite the atrocious act she is involved in, Judith embodies great moral values. Presented as a symbol of salvation that God offers to the Jewish people, she also becomes an emblem of the Church itself and its salvific role, emphasised by the ethereal white of her skin, which evokes purity.

According to the iconography that spread north of the Alps from the 15th century onwards, despite her heroic behaviour, the image of Judith is often associated with that of a mere seductress. We can see this in the way the artist has used transparency and chosen to depict her without clothes, and in the precious necklace artfully placed between her breasts: in fact, the biblical text emphasises Judith's beauty as a determining factor in the success of the enterprise, together with her other qualities of intelligence and wisdom.

The details of the jewellery she wears are worth mentioning, as they emphasise her beauty, such as the jewelled chain that supports her cloak, covered with precious stones and pearls, as well as the tiara that encircles her hair, the bracelets, and even the hilt of her sword, finished with anthropomorphic heads.

The painting, which can be dated to around the end of the 16th century, with its strong colours and chiaroscuro able to emphasise its plastic and expressive force, presents the most typical Flemish suggestions, with a taste still inclined towards mannerism, and an excellent pictorial quality.

This work shows clear similarities with the style of Ambrosius Benson (Lombardy, c. 1495; Bruges, 1550), an artist of Italian origin (specifically from Lombardy) who was registered in the painters' guild of Bruges in 1519. It can therefore be attributed to a pupil of his workshop or one of his followers.

The image can be compared with a panel (89 x 70 cm) belonging to the Alte Pinakothek in Munich and dated by critics to the second quarter of the 16th century, a work created around 1525/50 by a follower of Benson **

**Ambrosius Benson (follower) (1495-1550) - Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Second quarter of the 16th century

oak, 88.7 x 69.5 cm

Alte Pinakothek Munich

URL: https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/de/artwork/A9xlyPzLWv

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The painting is sold complete with a beautiful antique frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic card.

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