| Judith with the Head of Holofernes | |
| Artist: | Titian |
| Medium: | Oil on canvas |
| Height Metric: | 113 |
| Width Metric: | 95.3 |
| Metric Unit: | cm |
| Imperial Unit: | in |
| Museum: | Detroit Institute of Arts |
Judith with the Head of Holofernes is an oil painting by Titian, made in about 1570, which hangs in the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Judith, a beautiful and pious widow of the Tribe of Simeon, executes a plan to deliver Bethulia from the Assyrian general Holofernes. Wearing her rich attire, and accompanied by her maid, who carries a bag of provisions, she goes to the hostile camp, where she is at once conducted to the general, whose suspicions are disarmed by the tales she invents. After four days Holofernes, smitten with her charms, at the close of a sumptuous entertainment invites her to remain within his tent over night. No sooner is he overcome with sleep than Judith, seizing his sword, strikes off his head and gives it to her maid; both now leave the camp (as they had previously been accustomed to do, ostensibly for prayer) and return to Bethulia, where the trophy is displayed amid rejoicings and thanksgivings.[1] [2]
This is the only known depiction of Judith beheading Holofernes by Titian. It has been universally accepted as autograph (that is, painted entirely by Titian) since its rediscovery by Tancred Borenius in 1922.
The picture was probably first recorded in the collection of the Florentine aristocrat and art collector Marchese Gerini by Francesco Bocchi and Giovanni Cinelli in 1677. It was purchased by Esdel B. Ford from a private collection in New York City in 1935, and gifted to the Detroit Institute of Arts later that year.[3]