Judith, seated nude with a sword in her right hand, gazing down at the head of Holofernes in her left hand
1523
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/8 x 1 9/16 in. (6 x 4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.777
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, Barthel Beham's 1523 engraving *Judith, Seated Nude with a in Her Right Hand, Gazing Down at Head of Holofer in Her Left Hand* captures a biblical moment from the Book of Judith. This heroic Jewish widow seduces and beheads the Assyrian general Hfernes to save her people, a popular Renaissance subject symbolizing virtue triumphing over tyranny. Beham, a Nuremberg-based artist from the "Little Masters"—printmakers renowned for intricate work on tiny scales—presents Judith nude, emphasizing her bold power and classical beauty in...
About the Artist
Barthel Beham · 1502–1540
Barthel Beham (1502–1540), a pivotal figure in the German Renaissance, was born in Nuremberg into a family of artists. The younger brother of the renowned engraver Hans Sebald Beham, he honed his craft under the tutelage of his elder sibling and the master Albrecht Dürer, absorbing the precise techniques of engraving and painting that defined Nuremberg's vibrant artistic scene. Emerging as a prodi...