Stanzione, Judith with the Head of Holofernes
Item
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Title
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Stanzione, Judith with the Head of Holofernes
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Rights
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public Domain.
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Creator
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Massimo Stanzione (1585-1656)
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Date
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ca. 1640
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Description
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In what appears to be stone ruins, are two women. The woman on the left stands out in the brown monochrome composition; she is wearing a bright yellow gown with red accents, a royal blue cloak pulled across her shoulders. Her dark hair is pulled into an intricate updo, a white wrap with a ruby brooch made of feathers holding it together. In her left hand, she holds the severed head of a bearded man by the hair, placing it on a cloth offered to her by her maidservant; an older woman dressed in a similar palette to the rest of the composition. She wears a white headwrap, and looks at her mistress with a slight frown on her face. The woman on the left avoids both the look her maidservant gives her and the head, instead looking up to the heavens. In her right hand is the sword used to commit the crime, barely in her grasp as though to separate herself from it and, thus, what she has done.
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Format
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Painting. Oil on canvas. 78 1/2 x 57 1/2 in.
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Publisher
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 59.40
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Contributor
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Abigail P.
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Subject
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Biblical story; biblical scene; Judith; maidservant; Holofernes; decapitation; sword; weapon; war general; Baroque.
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Source
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Jpeg file. Unknown Photographer. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Digital Collection, Gift of Edward W. Carter, 1959. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437745, 3/20/20.
