Judith with the Head of Holofernes
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/plate: 19.2 × 15 cm (7 9/16 × 5 15/16 in.); Sheet: 21.2 × 16.3 cm (8 3/8 × 6 7/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
218410
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This wiry, animated etching of the moment just after Judith has decapitated Holofernes was produced by Marco San Martino, a little-known painter and printmaker of the Italian Baroque. The image draws much of its strength from its contrasts: Judith’s exposed breast and the bed-curtain emphasize her seductiveness, while her drawn sword reinforces her violent efficiency. Voids above the decapitated general’s body and beneath his dangling left arm evoke his disorienting inebriation and subsequent, v...