Judith Holding up the Head of Holofernes

Carlo Maratti

1625–1713 · Pen and brown ink, over red chalk · Drawings and Prints

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.

Artist

Carlo Maratti

Date

1625–1713

Medium

Pen and brown ink, over red chalk

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1962