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Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Attributed To Matteo di Giovanni (Italian, 1430–1495)
Title Judith with the Head of Holofernes
Date Ca. 1490
Medium Oil on panel
Dimensions Framed: 27 3/8 × 23 5/8 × 3 5/8 in. (69.5 × 60 × 9.2 cm)
Overall (cradle): 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm)
Support (cradle): 22 1/8 x 18 1/2 in. (56.2 x 47 cm)
Credit Line The Samuel H. Kress Study Collection, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 62.163

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About this Work

This sword-wielding woman has traditionally been identified as Judith, an ancient Israelite who beheaded the Assyrian general Holofernes. However, because the panel was cut down at some point, her identity is not certain. More recently, scholars have suggested she is Tomyris, who decapitated the Persian king Cyrus the Great after her central Asian people, the Massagetai, defeated his army. Likely commissioned by the Piccolomini family of Siena, this portrait originally formed part of a series of eight full-length portraits of heroes and heroines from antiquity. The subject of Tomyris better aligns with the Greco-Roman theme of the larger series.


Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Judith with the Head of Holofernes | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2024. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=62.163