Judith and Holofernes
After 1613
Medium
Pen and brown and black ink, with brush and black wash, on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
24.8 × 35.7 cm (9 13/16 × 14 1/16 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
84286
Art Historical Context
Antonio Tempesta’s “Judith and Holofernes,” created 1613, offers a compelling glimpse into early seventeenth-century draftsmanship. Executed in pen and brown and black ink with brush-applied black wash on ivory laid paper, the drawing measures just 24.8 by 35.7 centimeters. Now preserved in the Prints and Drawings department of the Art Institute of Chicago, it demonstrates how artists of the period used modest sheets to explore dramatic biblical subjects with remarkable economy and force. The combination of fine pen lines and fluid washes allows Tempesta to suggest both sharp detail and broad...
About the Artist
Antonio Tempesta · 1555–1630
Antonio Tempesta (1555–1630), known as 'Il Tempestino,' was a Florentine painter and printmaker whose extraordinary output of approximately 1,700 etchings made him one of the most influential printmakers of the early Baroque period. Born in Florence and trained under Santi di Tito and the Flemish master Joannes Stradanus, he enrolled in the Accademia del Disegno in 1576 before relocating to Rome i...