(Bologna 1552–1614 Rome)
Judith with the head of Holofernes,
oil on canvas, 92 x 141 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection

We are grateful to Maria Teresa Cantaro for suggesting the attribution of the present painting, which appears to be previously unpublished, and as such, it is an important addition to the oeuvre of Lavinia Fontana.

The present work represents the Biblical heroine Judith as she departs from Holofernes’ tent holding the decapitated tyrant’s head in her hands, and as she places it in a sack aided by her faithful handmaiden. The artist depicted this subject of Judith on two other occasions: once in a work now in the Museo Bargellini, Bologna, which is signed and dated 1600, and in another, which is a night scene, and is signed and dateable to 1595: this is conserved in Oratorio dei Pellegrini, Bologna.

Cantaro has dated the present painting to the latter 1580s when Lavinia Fontana, who had trained alongside her father, the painter Prospero Fontana, had already established a brilliant career, principally asserting herself as portraitist to wealthy families of her native city. It is likely that the commission for the present painting belongs within this context: here the clear and luminous palette alleviates the drama that characterised her later interpretations of the subject, and instead exalts the noble and elegant figure of Judith.

The near theatrical composition of the scene recalls mannerist examples from central Italy, which Lavinia almost certainly had the opportunity to study. Combined with this quality, the present work also reveals certain Flemish elements, including the description of the clear azure colouring of the background where on the right there is the encampment of Holofernes’ soldiers, and on top of the hill, the city of Bethulia.

In the foreground, the bare-breasted heroine is dressed all’antica. She is shown as she hurries to leave the tyrant’s tent, her torso turned towards her handmaiden, while she faces in the opposite direction: a dynamic movement that successfully expresses the tension of the moment. The scene is significantly transposed into a contemporary context by the background soldiers’ armour, and above all, by the jewellery and hairstyle Judith wears, which Lavinia Fontana describes with her usual great ability. Indeed, Judith is shown according to the height of late Cinquecento fashion, her hair drawn back with side ringlets, decorated with strings of pearls interlaced with a fine transparent veil.

This appearance, conjoined with the clearly defined representation of Judith’s features, reveals an evident intention to conceal a portrait behind the guise of the heroine. Indeed, this Biblical subject was frequently used during the late Cinquecento and during the early years of the next century, when it became broadly diffused as a means to represent aristocratic women of the age, in works destined to decorate intimate private chambers. Lavinia Fontana received many such commissions, as is revealed by her numerous mythological and religious works that in fact conceal portraits of women of the era. This is the case of the Judith and Holofernes in the Museo Davia Bargellini (mentioned above) which apparently portrays Costanza Bianchetti Bargellini (see: C.P. Murphy Lavinia Fontana. A painter and her Patrons in Sixteenth century Bologna, New Haven-London 2003, pp.151-155). With regard to the present painting Cantaro has suggested that behind this image of Judith it is possible to recognise the portrait of Ginevra Aldrovandi Hercolani, whom Lavinia also portrayed in a work now in the Walters Museum of Art, Baltimore (see: Ibid. 2003, pp.143-146).

We are grateful Maria Teresa Cantaro for her help in cataloguing the present painting.