The complete collection

Gallery

Not one image, but a tradition of choices: before the blow, the blade in motion, the head concealed, the heroine displayed. Change the order and the history changes with it.

Search the exhibition/

CenturyNarrative momentMedium

64 works in view

A small thirteenth-century Paris Bible leaf contains an initial in which Judith bends over Holofernes with a sword.

Open object record →

c. 1230–1240 · Ink and tempera on vellum

Leaf from a Latin Bible: Initial A and Initial A: Judith Beheading Holofernes

Leber Group workshop

A gilded medieval initial contains Judith leaning over a sleeping Holofernes and swinging a sword toward his neck.

Open object record →

c. 1275–1300 · Ink, tempera, and gold on vellum

Judith Beheading Holofernes, Historiated Initial A

Unknown illuminator, southern France

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseCambridge, United Kingdom

Open object record →

c. 1370–1390 · Tinted drawings on parchment with occasional gold

Virgin Overcomes the Devil; Judith Kills Holofernes, from a Speculum Humanae Salvationis

Unknown Italian illuminator

A monumental woven scene shows Judith handing Holofernes’s head toward her maid amid an elaborate Gothic tent and landscape.

Open object record →

c. 1455–1465 · Tapestry; wool warp with wool and silk wefts

Judith Taking Holofernes’ Head

Unknown weavers, South Netherlandish

Donatello's bronze Judith stands above Holofernes, gripping his hair while preparing to strike with a sword.

Open object record →

c. 1457–1464 · Bronze

Judith and Holofernes

Donatello

Judith walks briskly through an open landscape carrying a sword while her maid follows with Holofernes's head.

Open object record →

c. 1470–1475 · Tempera on wood

The Return of Judith to Bethulia

Sandro Botticelli

Soldiers recoil as they discover Holofernes’s headless body on a bed inside his opened tent.

Open object record →

c. 1470–1475 · Tempera on wood

The Discovery of the Body of Holofernes

Sandro Botticelli

Judith stands at the opening of a tent while a maid receives Holofernes's head into a sack.

Open object record →

c. 1495–1500 · Tempera with gold and silver on poplar panel

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Andrea Mantegna or follower (possibly Giulio Campagnola)

An engraving shows Judith and her maid at a tent opening with the severed head of Holofernes.

Open object record →

c. 1500–1505 · Engraving

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Girolamo Mocetto, after Andrea Mantegna

Giorgione’s Judith stands serenely in a landscape with one bare foot resting on Holofernes’s severed head.

Open object record →

c. 1504 · Oil transferred from panel to canvas

Judith

Giorgione

Michelangelo’s fresco shows Judith and her maid carrying Holofernes’s head away while his body remains inside the tent.

Open object record →

c. 1509 · Fresco

Judith and Holofernes

Michelangelo Buonarroti

A tiny engraving shows a nude Judith seated on Holofernes's body, holding his head and an upright sword.

Open object record →

1525 · Engraving on laid paper

Judith Seated on the Body of Holofernes

Barthel Beham

A richly dressed Judith calmly holds a sword and the severed head of Holofernes against a dark background.

Open object record →

c. 1530 · Oil on linden

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Lucas Cranach the Elder

A muscular, partly nude Judith presents Holofernes’s head while holding a large sword close to the picture plane.

Open object record →

1535–1545 · Oil on panel

Judith

Jan Sanders van Hemessen

An engraving shows Judith leaning over Holofernes and cutting his neck while her maid waits at the tent.

Open object record →

1551 · Engraving

Judith Slaying Holofernes, from The Power of Women, plate 5

Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert, after Maarten van Heemskerck

A forked staghorn powder flask bears a small relief of Judith holding a sword and Holofernes’s severed head.

Open object record →

c. 1570 · Staghorn carved in relief; metal mounts missing

Powder Flask with Judith and Holofernes

Unknown German carver

Titian’s Judith and her maid turn through smoky darkness with Holofernes’s head partly concealed.

Open object record →

c. 1570 · Oil on canvas

Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes

Titian

Veronese's richly dressed Judith turns beside her maid, who supports the head of Holofernes.

Open object record →

c. 1580 · Oil on canvas

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Paolo Veronese

A circular engraving shows Judith presenting Holofernes's head beside a muscular attendant.

Open object record →

c. 1586–1587 · Engraving on laid paper

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Hendrik Goltzius, after Bartholomaeus Spranger

A richly dressed Judith turns toward the viewer while presenting the severed head against a dark background.

Open object record →

1590–1595 · Oil on canvas

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Attributed to Lavinia Fontana

Judith draws a sword through Holofernes's neck as blood jets onto white bedding and an elderly maid watches.

Open object record →

c. 1599–1600 (dating debated; 1602 also proposed) · Oil on canvas

Judith Beheading Holofernes

Caravaggio

Fede Galizia’s elaborately dressed Judith rests one hand on Holofernes’s severed head while a maid stands behind.

Open object record →

1601 · Oil on canvas

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Fede Galizia

A large engraving after Rubens shows Judith and her maid forcing down Holofernes as Judith cuts his neck.

Open object record →

c. 1610 · Engraving

Judith Beheading Holofernes

Cornelis Galle I, after Peter Paul Rubens

Judith in a splendid silver dress holds Holofernes's head by the hair while a maid looks outward behind her.

Open object record →

1610–1612 · Oil on canvas

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Cristofano Allori

Judith and her maid pause together over the severed head, turning as if alerted during their escape.

Open object record →

c. 1608–1612 · Oil on canvas

Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes

Orazio Gentileschi, possibly with Artemisia Gentileschi

Judith and her maid pin Holofernes to a bed while Judith saws through his neck with a sword.

Open object record →

c. 1612–1613 · Oil on canvas

Judith Slaying Holofernes

Artemisia Gentileschi

Torchlight catches Judith and her maid as they secure Holofernes's head in a basket during their escape.

Open object record →

1610s · Oil on canvas

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Antiveduto Gramatica

Judith and her maid force Holofernes down while Judith cuts his neck and blood arcs across the bed.

Open object record →

c. 1620 · Oil on canvas

Judith Slaying Holofernes

Artemisia Gentileschi

Judith raises a hand as if to silence or shade a candle while her maid crouches over the bundled head.

Open object record →

c. 1623–1625 · Oil on canvas

Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes

Artemisia Gentileschi

Virginia da Vezzi’s Judith smiles faintly while holding a bloodied sword and steadying Holofernes’s head under orange cloth.

Open object record →

c. 1624–1626 · Oil on canvas

Judith

Virginia da Vezzi

Judith leans from the bed with the severed head while her maid opens a sack and blood remains visible behind them.

Open object record →

mid-to-late 1620s · Oil on canvas

Judith in the Tent of Holofernes

Johann Liss

A richly dressed woman identified as Judith sits at a banquet as an attendant offers a cup in a dark interior.

Open object record →

1634 · Oil on canvas

Judith at the Banquet of Holofernes

Rembrandt van Rijn

By candlelight Judith draws a blade across the upside-down Holofernes’s neck as his eyes open in horror.

Open object record →

c. 1640 · Oil on canvas

Judith Decapitating Holofernes

Trophime Bigot

A monumental Judith in blue and white stands above Holofernes’s head while holding a sword.

Open object record →

c. 1640 · Oil on canvas

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Massimo Stanzione

A small engraving shows Judith leaning over Holofernes inside an extensively detailed tent interior.

Open object record →

1645 · Engraving

Judith and Holofernes

Abraham Bosse

Michaelina Wautier’s Judith and her maid work together to lower Holofernes’s head into a cloth in a dark interior.

Open object record →

c. 1650 · Oil on canvas

Judith with the Head of Holofernes and Her Maid

Michaelina Wautier

A tall Judith helps an older maid secure Holofernes’s head in a sack beneath sweeping drapery.

Open object record →

mid-17th century (Walters displays 1638–1665) · Oil on canvas

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Circle of Elisabetta and Giovanni Andrea Sirani

In a Safavid album painting, Judith displays Holofernes’s head within a Europeanizing landscape and architectural setting.

Open object record →

c. 1680 · Ink, gold, and opaque watercolor on paper

Judith with the Severed Head of Holofernes

Muhammad Zaman

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseMexico City, Mexico

Open object record →

18th century · Oil on canvas

Judith Holding Up the Severed Head of Holofernes

Unidentified Novohispanic artist

A small brown-ink drawing rapidly defines Judith displaying Holofernes’s head.

Open object record →

18th century · Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Ubaldo Gandolfi

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseNew York

Open object record →

early 19th century · Brass Hanukkah lamp

Hanukkah Lamp with Judith and the Head of Holofernes

Unknown Polish maker

Goya's dark mural shows Judith emerging from blackness with a knife while her maid crouches below; Holofernes is outside the frame.

Open object record →

1820–1823 · Mixed method on mural, transferred to canvas

Judith and Holofernes

Francisco de Goya

Rembrandt Peale's Judith presents Holofernes's head in an American copy after Cristofano Allori.

Open object record →

1830 · Oil on canvas

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Rembrandt Peale, after Cristofano Allori

A small terracotta Judith stands in deeply folded robes and lowers Holofernes’s head at her side.

Open object record →

mid-1800s · Terracotta

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Unknown French sculptor

A Victorian Judith pauses in prayer beside the sleeping Holofernes before taking up the sword.

Open object record →

1863 · Oil on canvas

Judith and Holofernes

John Rogers Herbert

Pedro Américo’s monumental Judith raises one arm in triumph as Holofernes’s severed head rests near her feet.

Open object record →

1880 · Oil on canvas

Judith and Holofernes

Pedro Américo

Angelo Agostini's Brazilian caricature recasts Pedro Américo's Judith for the illustrated press.

Open object record →

1884 · Published satirical drawing

Judith e Holofernes

Angelo Agostini

Benjamin-Constant’s Judith stands in glinting red and gold, holding a sword while Holofernes is absent from view.

Open object record →

possibly c. 1886 · Oil on canvas

Judith

Benjamin-Constant

Oscar Pereira da Silva's smaller Brazilian copy of Pedro Américo's Judith and Holofernes.

Open object record →

date unknown · Oil on canvas

Judite e Holofernes

Oscar Pereira da Silva, after Pedro Américo

Klimt's Judith, bare-chested and half-lidded, stands against a gold patterned field with Holofernes's head cropped at the lower edge.

Open object record →

1901 · Oil and gold leaf on canvas

Judith I

Gustav Klimt

Klimt’s narrow second Judith bends forward amid jagged ornament, fingers tensed around the cropped head at the lower edge.

Open object record →

1909 · Oil on canvas

Judith II (Salome)

Gustav Klimt

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseNew York

Open object record →

1958 · Oil on canvas

Judith and Holofernes

Robert Barnes

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseWashington, DC

Open object record →

c. 1960 · Pencil on paper

Judith (Study for Sculpture)

Chaim Gross

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseWashington, DC

Open object record →

1968 · Acrylic and egg tempera on Masonite

Judith

Roger Medearis

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseWashington, DC

Open object record →

1973 · Watercolor, pen and ink, and pencil on paper

The Enemy Fled Seeing Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Peter Minchell

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseNew Zealand

Open object record →

1982 · Painting; medium not supplied in the linked survey

Judith and Holofernes

Nigel Brown

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseNew Zealand

Open object record →

1982 · Painting; medium not supplied in the linked survey

Judith and Holofernes (with Street View)

Nigel Brown

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseNew York

Open object record →

1990 · Chromogenic print

Untitled #228

Cindy Sherman

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseNew York

Open object record →

1993 · Screenprint on paper

Judith on Red Square

Komar and Melamid

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseMinneapolis, Minnesota

Open object record →

1999 · Watercolor and acrylic

I'll Make You Shorter by a Head (Judith I)

Tina Blondell

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseRaleigh, North Carolina

Open object record →

2012 · Oil on linen

Judith and Holofernes

Kehinde Wiley

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseSydney, Australia

Open object record →

2014–2017 · Acrylic polymer, marble dust, gold, white-gold and copper leaf, museum acrylic on canvas and wood

Just before the most significant events, people are particularly prone to deny the possibilities of the future. (cause all we're doing is learning how to die)

Tomislav Nikolic

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseSydney, Australia

Open object record →

2016 · Italian green earth pigment in tempera, oil, and beeswax on panel; diptych

Judith and Holofernes

Lisa Sharp

Text-only recordImage not available
for reuseThailand

Open object record →

2021 · Acrylic on canvas

Pouring the Judith Slaying Holofernes

Kannika Jansuwan