Judith met het hoofd van Holofernes

About this artwork

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Art Historical Context

Parmigianino’s etching *Judith met het hoofd van Holofernes* captures the dramatic biblical moment when the young widow Judith presents the severed head of the Assyrian general Holofer. Created between 1524 and 1540, the small print—measuring just 151 by 89 millimeters—belongs to the Italian artist’s experimental work in the new medium of etching. Parmigianino, a leading figure of the Mannerist style, used the technique’s fluid lines to convey both the elegance of Judith’s figure and the tension of her triumph. Etching allowed artists like Parmigianino to achieve delicate, expressive marks th...

About the Artist

Parmigianino · 1503–1540

Parmigianino (1503–1540), born Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, was an Italian painter and printmaker who became one of the most influential figures of the first generation of Mannerist artists. Orphaned before his second birthday, he was raised by his painter uncles in Parma and showed extraordinary precocity, completing a major altarpiece by age eighteen. His elegant, sophisticated style—charac...