Judith with the Head of Holofernes
n.d.
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/sheet, trimmed within platemark: 32.4 × 21.8 cm (12 13/16 × 8 5/8 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
4331
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This engraving illustrates a scene from the Apocryphal book of Judith. Judith, angered that her country was under foreign rule, decided to kill the enemy leader, Holofernes. She visited him and drank wine with him until he fell asleep; then, taking his sword, she “struck his neck twice with all her might, and severed his head from his body.” Girolamo Mocetto depicted Judith immediately after this act, handing Holofernes’s severed head to her maid.
About the Artist
Girolamo Mocetto · 1470–1531
Comment on works: Religious