© Burrell Collection
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
Artist: Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472 - 1553)
Location: Burrell Collection
Date: 1530
Materials: oil on panel
Dimensions: 76.7 x 55.8cm
Grant:
Amount Paid: £50,000 (Total: £314,663)
Vendor: Anonymous through Citibank N A Art Advisory Service
Review number: 4238 (1995)
Export Stopped
Provenance:
Collection Rudolf Chillingworth sale; Galeries Fischer, Lucerne, 1922; Henry McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway; thence by descent; Christie's, 1994.
Description:
The Bible relates how Judith saved her people in a war with the Assyrians by seducing their general Holofernes and cutting off his head. Cranach portrays Judith as a wise and self-assured woman, elegantly clad and holding the blood-stained sword in a restrained but triumphant manner. She wears contemporary dress; and the landscape visible in the distance contains buildings consistent with Cranach's own surroundings. This picture is treated like a portrait rather than a history painting.
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