No reusable image is available here; the Smithsonian and Minchell rightsholders are invited to give this emphatically titled flight scene the visibility it deserves.

Open the cited record ↗

American self-taught art · The Assyrians flee

The Enemy Fled Seeing Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Peter Minchell 1889–1982

1973

Gallery label

Minchell chooses what museums often omit: not the bedroom or trophy portrait, but the military panic that Judith's proof sets in motion.

Look closely

The Smithsonian catalogues soldiers, a tent, murder, Judith, and Holofernes across a complex watercolor-and-ink sheet. The linked record remains the place to see the image.

Why this Judith matters

Self-taught religious art expands both authorship and narrative time. The title itself insists that the enemy's reaction—not Judith's eroticization—is the climax.

Sources for this record:Smithsonian American Art Museum record ↗

“Minchell chooses what museums often omit: not the bedroom or trophy portrait, but the military panic that Judith's proof sets in motion.”

Narrative index

Primary catalogue placement: the assyrians flee, Judith 14:11–19. The index organizes comparison; it does not claim that every visual detail comes from those verses or that the work touches only one episode.

Text and evidence

The passage behind the image

See the verses in parallel public-domain translations, then return to ask what the artist has omitted, moved, or invented.

Read Judith 14:11–19 →

Image information

Copyright may subsist in the artwork

No reusable image is available here; the Smithsonian and Minchell rightsholders are invited to give this emphatically titled flight scene the visibility it deserves.

Image reuse: Reuse not authorized for this exhibition