# Judith

**Jan Sanders van Hemessen** (Netherlandish)  
c. 1540  
Oil on panel  
99.1 × 77.2 cm (39 × 30 3/8 in.); Framed: 119.7 × 97.8 × 6.4 cm (47 1/8 × 38 1/2 × 2 1/2 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1956.1109. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/4575).

## 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._

Jan Sanders van Hemessen painted this in about 1540. It is now at 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](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/jan-sanders-van-hemessen)

Netherlandish

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: Netherlands
- Real size: about 39 × 30 in (99 × 77 cm). The 24 × 36 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 16th century
- Movement: [Renaissance](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/renaissance)
- Subjects: women, woman, nudes, swords, biblical, beheadings, 16th Century
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/6.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/6/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/judith-aic-4575).