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Judith placing the head of Holofernes onto a cloth held by another female figure, the foreshortened body of Holofernes gushes with blood from the neck

Jacopo Palma the Younger

ca. 1570–1628

Judith placing the head of Holofernes onto a cloth held by another female figure, the foreshortened body of Holofernes gushes with blood from the neck by Jacopo Palma the Younger

Medium

Etching

Dimensions

sheet: 7 x 8 13/16 in. (17.8 x 22.4 cm) mount: 14 15/16 x 10 11/16 in. (38 x 27.2 cm)

Classification

Prints

Department

Drawings and Prints

Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Credit

Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011

Accession Number

2012.136.286

Tags

HeadsWomenJudith

Art Historical Context

In this gripping etching by Jacopo Palma the Younger a Venetian artist active in the late 16th and early th centuries, we witness a pivotal moment from the biblical Book of Judith. The Jewish heroine Judith triumphantly places the severed head of the Assyrian general Holofer onto a cloth held by her servant, while his foreshortened body sprawls dramatically below, blood gushing from the neck wound. Created around 1570–1628, this print the intense drama of Judith's courageous act to save her people from invasion, a popular theme in Renaissance art symbolizing female strength and divine justice....

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