3-050-897 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes, c1608-1612. Additional Info: A violent deed has been committed, but this depiction of the biblical story of Judith and her maidservant beheading Holofernes also shows tender gestures and composure. The painting depicts a story from the  Old Testament, the book of Judith. At the heart of this work is a wicket basket holding the severed head of Holofernes. His contorted face is directed towards the viewer. The perpetrator of Holofernes’ beheading was Judith, a beautiful Jewish widow whose beauty and cold-blooded action saved her people from destruction. She and her maidservant Abra, pictured on the right, went to the camp of Holofernes, the Assyrian general whose troops were besieging the Jewish town of Betulia. Judith was invited into the general’s  tent, got him drunk and cut off his head as he slept. Taking the head as a trophy and as proof that her clever plan had succeeded, she and her maid slipped out of the enemy camp. The following morning the head was displayed on the town wall for everyone to see.