Cranach, Lucas sr. (8) 루카스 크라나흐
Lucas Cranach the Elder 1472 – 1553
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
oil on panel (77 × 56 cm) — 1530
Lucas Cranach the Elder biography
This work is linked to Judith 13:9
Art and the Bible - Judith 13 - Apocrypha
Judith 13 1 Now when the evening was come, his servants made haste to depart, and Bagoas shut his tent without, and dismissed the waiters from the presence of his lord; and they went to their beds: for they were all weary, because the feast had been long.
www.artbible.info
Judith proudly presents the head of the enemy warlord Holofernes.
It is work of extremes. On the one hand is beautiful Judith, dressed to the fashion of Cranach's days. She is set against a background with a calm landscape. On the other hand are the horrible details of the act she just committed: the veins in the neck of the Assyrian and the blood on the sword.
Cranach made at least five paintings on this subject, all showing Judith and the head in a similar pose. This panel is in Glasgow, others are in New York (Met) and Vienna (KHM), amongst others.