(Genoa 1666–1724)
Judith and Holofernes,
oil on canvas, 232.5 x 150.5 cm, unframed

Provenance:
possibly commissioned by Johann Adam Andreas, Prince of Liechtenstein;
Zingales collection, Genoa;
Zerbone collection, Genoa, since 1986

Exhibited:
Schirn-Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, Kunst in der Republik Genua 1528–1815, September 5–8 November 1992, no. 104

Literature:
M. Newcome, Kunst in der Republik Genua 1528–1815, exhibition catalogue, Frankfurt 1992, p.195, no. 104;
A. Toncini Cabella, Paolo Gerolamo Piola e la sua grande casa genovese, Genoa 2002, p. 137, no. 38

The present painting by Paolo Gerolamo Piola depicts Judith triumphantly holding the head of Holofernes (Judith 13:15). The episode depicted is taken from the Book of Judith (10:5). After gaining the trust of the Assyrian general, Judith the decapitated Holofernes with a sword as he lay in a drunken stupor.

A drawing by Piola’s teacher, Carlo Maratti, with a similar compostion (Christie’s, Rome, 2. December 1982), designed for a lunette in the Capella della Presentazione in St Peter’s, Rome, suggests that Piola was profoundly influenced by his time studying in Rome between 1690 to 1694.

The patron who commissioned the present painting and its counterpart by Giovanni Andrea Carlone (Lot 408) supports the idea that the two artists from Genoa’s most important dynasties of artists to some extent collaborated with one another.

Johann Adam Andreas, Prince of Liechtenstein commissioned Carlone to paint two pictures. However, neither of the paintings are recorded in an inventory of the Liechtenstein collections. Since there are no records of the present painting in any Genoese inventory either, it has been suggested may that the prince may have been the patron for this work.