Judith with the Head of Holofernes
1465/80
Medium
Engraving in blue-gray on ivory laid paper, laid down on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image/inner border: 13.2 × 13.2 cm (5 1/4 × 5 1/4 in.); Sheet: 13.7 × 13.7 cm (5 7/16 × 5 7/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
53707
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This engraving was part of a group of Florentine round and oval prints with secular themes meant to be pasted on cylindrical boxes. These held sweetmeats or toiletries and were exchanged by lovers or given as wedding favors. The prints could have been colored or illuminated and completed with the recipient’s coat of arms before being affixed to boxes, though in the one displayed here the shield hanging on the tree at right remains empty. Holofernes literally lost his head to Judith’s well-timed ...