Art Institute of Chicago

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Marco San Martino

Date

n.d.

Medium

Engraving in black on ivory laid paper

Culture

Italy

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This wiry, animated etching of the moment just after Judith has decapitated Holofernes was produced by Marco San Martino, a little-known painter and printmaker of the Italian Baroque. The image draws much of its strength from its contrasts: Judith’s exposed breast and the bed-curtain emphasize her seductiveness, while her drawn sword reinforces her violent efficiency. Voids above the decapitated general’s body and beneath his dangling left arm evoke his disorienting inebriation and subsequent, violent end. Enveloped in her swirling robes, Judith has Holofernes’s head well in hand and is ready for the swift journey to her home, Bethulia, where she was rightly welcomed as a hero.

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