Judith and Holofernes
Jan de Bray
1659
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
7; 40; 32.5
About this artwork
drager: hoogte 40 cm x breedte 32,5 cm
Art Historical Context
Jan de Bray’s *Judith and Holofernes* captures a dramatic biblical moment in which the courageous widow Judith slays the Assyrian general Holofernes to save her people. Painted in 1659, the compact oil-on-panel work measures just 40 by 32.5 centimeters, inviting close, intimate viewing typical of Dutch cabinet pictures of the period. De Bray, active in Haarlem during the Dutch Golden Age, was known for blending portrait-like realism with history subjects, and this small panel exemplifies that approach. The story of Judith had strong resonance in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic, where t...