Attributed to Agostino BELTRANO Naples, 1607 -... Lot 308

Attributed to Agostino BELTRANO Naples, 1607 - 1656 Judith and Holofernes Oil on canvas (Restoration) 200 x 280 cm (78.74 x 110.24 in.) Comment: Among the Old Testament heroines, Judith was one of the most represented. The story of this beautiful young widow who saved her people by beheading the tyrant who threatened them inspired poets and artists from Donatello to Klimt, and the high point of Holofernes' death was particularly illustrated by 17th-century Italian painters. All of them are faithful to the account in the 'Book of Judith': General Holofernes, sent by Nebuchadnezzar II to conquer Judea, laid siege to the city of Bethulia. As the inhabitants begin to suffer from thirst, Judith decides to intervene: by her beauty and intelligence, she seduces Holofernes who invites her to a banquet and then to his tent. Drunk, he falls asleep and Judith, grabbing his hair, strikes him with her scimitar and beheads him with the complicity of her maid who hides Holofernes' head in her pouch so that the two women can return to Bethulia safely (Jdt, 10-13).