Judith and Holofernes
Valentin de Boulogne, 1626
For now, just to look at
The photograph we have of this work is not sharp enough to print at the quality we want, so we are not selling it for now. We are looking for a better one.
About the work
- Artist
- Valentin de Boulogne
- Date
- 1626
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 137 x 178 cm
- Collection
- MUŻA, Valletta, Malta
- Reference
- XDV-4227
What the museum label doesn't tell you
Judith doesn't grit her teeth or look away, she cuts like someone signing a document. What throws you off is the maid in the background, barely lit, watching the scene as calmly as if guarding a door. No one screams, no one flinches. This 1626 version, attributed to Valentin de Boulogne, is a very close copy of a composition by Artemisia Gentileschi: Judith's frozen gesture wasn't invented here, it was borrowed. Yet it works just the same, as if restrained violence belonged less to an author than to a formula circulating among Caravaggisti. Does copying the gesture copy the terror too?
