# Judith [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MANTEGNA, Andrea]() - Date: 1451-1500 - Technique: Tempera on wood, 31 x 18 cm ## Commentary Once owned by King Charles I of England, this painting illustrates an episode from the Old Testament which relates how the Israelite Judith by guile killed the Assyrian general Holofernes and thus saved her beleaguered city. Painted with minute detail, Judith and her handmaiden finish their deed with tragic calm. Among Mantegna's works there are several representations of Judith that, without exception, show a comparatively peaceful scene in which Judith is placing the severed head of Holofernes in a bag. During the Baroque, in contrast, the dramatic central moment of the action was preferred, as Judith, often with great effort, <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/g/gentiles/artemisi/judit.html'\)" href="/html/g/gentiles/artemisi/judit.html">decapitates Holofernes.</a> <p> <table align=left cellpadding=5 border=1 width=320 bgcolor="\#99cccc"> <tr valign=middle><td><img src="/support/gif/listen.gif" border=0 valign=middle> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 17 minutes\):<br><a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/17\_cent/scarlatti\_giuditta.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><b>Alessandro Scarlatti: La Giuditta, oratorio, Part I \(excerpts\)</b></a> </td></tr></table> ## Related artworks - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Agony in the Garden \(detail\)]() - [Agony in the Garden \(detail\)]() - [Agony in the Garden]() - [Agony in the Garden]() - [Assumption of the Virgin \(detail\)]() - [Assumption of the Virgin]() - [Assumption of the Virgin]() - [Bacchanalia with a Wine Vat]() - [Baptism of Christ]() - [Baptism of Christ]() - [Battle of the Sea Gods]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()