Judithc. 1540
According to the biblical story, the widow Judith saved her people from being slaughtered by the Assyrian army by infiltrating the tent of the enemy general, Holofernes. More about this work
About this work
According to the biblical story, the widow Judith saved her people from being slaughtered by the Assyrian army by infiltrating the tent of the enemy general, Holofernes. She then seduced and beheaded him. Jan van Hemessen's life-size interpretation reflects men's ambivalence toward female agency in 16th-century Netherlands. It celebrates Judith's physical and moral strength but also foregrounds the sexuality that enabled her triumph.
Text from the Art Institute of Chicago.
What you’re looking at
Painting of Judith, naked, holding sword, with head of Holophernes.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Oil on panel
- Oil paint on prepared wooden boards, usually oak in the north and poplar in Italy. The rigid, smooth surface suits fine detail and thin, glowing glazes.
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Jan Sanders van Hemessen
Netherlandish
Renaissance
European art from about 1400 to 1600, when painters rediscovered perspective and the classical past.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1956.1109
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Painting
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
