Judith with her sword raised in her right hand and placing the head of Holofernes in the sack with her left
ca. 1540–45
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 6 5/16 x 3 9/16 in. (16 x 9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926
Accession Number
26.70.3(85)
Tags
Art Historical Context
In this dynamic etching from around 154–45, Venetian artist Andrea Schone (Andrea Meldola) captures pivotal moment from the biblical of Judith. The Jewish heroine Judith is shown triumphantly raising her sword in her right hand while placing the severed head of the Assyrian general Holofer into a sack with her left. This dramatic scene celebrates Judith's courage and cunning, as she seduced and beheaded Holofernes save her besieged city of Bethulia—a popular subject in Renaissance art symbolizing virtue triumphing over tyranny. Schiavone, a key figure in the Venetian Renaissance with Manneris...
About the Artist
Andrea Schiavone (Andrea Meldola) · 1510–1563
Andrea Schiavone, born Andrea Meldolla around 1510 or 1515 in Zara (modern Zadar, Croatia), in Venetian-ruled Dalmatia, hailed from a family rooted in Meldola near Forlì in Romagna, Emilia-Romagna. His father, Simon Meldolla, served as a garrison commander there, and both parents originated from Meldola, where the family held property into the early 16th century. Nicknamed "Schiavone"—"the Slav"—a...