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Judith Holding up the Head of Holofernes

1625–1713
Not on view
Like the study for Jael Slaying Sisera - Metropolitan Museum of Art inv. 36.101.2 - , this sheet relates to the mosaics of biblical subjects that Maratti designed for Saint Peter's Basilica in the later 1670s. The subject is another Old Testament heroine, Judith, who vanquished the Assyrian general Holofernes, an enemy of the Jews, by seducing him and cutting off his head after he had fallen into an inebriated stupor. Gazing heavenward, Judith here brandishes her sword and triumphantly holds up her victim's severed head. Behind her is the slumped, decapitated corpse of Holofernes. For this composition study, Maratti employed pen and ink whereas for the figure study of Jael he used red chalk-a medium that allows for more subtle and descriptive modeling.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Judith Holding up the Head of Holofernes
  • Artist: Carlo Maratti (Italian, Camerano 1625–1713 Rome)
  • Date: 1625–1713
  • Medium: Pen and brown ink, over red chalk
  • Dimensions: 10 1/16 x 7 1/16in. (25.5 x 18cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1962
  • Object Number: 62.133
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Figure of Young Man or Woman in Bust-length, in Three-Quarter View, Carlo Maratti Italian, Black chalk on gray prepared paper
Figure of Young Man or Woman in Bust-length, in Three-Quarter View
Carlo Maratti
1700–1713
Virgin and Child with St. Mary Magdalen, Carlo Maratti Italian, Etching; second state of four (Bartsch)
Virgin and Child with St. Mary Magdalen
Carlo Maratti
The Marriage of St. Catherine, Carlo Maratti Italian, Etching; in between the first and second state of five
The Marriage of St. Catherine
Carlo Maratti
The Christ Child adored by angels
Carlo Maratti
La recompense des Sciences, Carlo Maratti Italian, Etching
La recompense des Sciences
Carlo Maratti
1640–1713

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