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Judith with the Head of Holofernes
Jan Massys (Netherlandish, 1509–1575)
1543
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
102.2 x 75.6 cm (40 1/4 x 29 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Abbott Lawrence Fund and Picture Fund
Accession Number12.1048
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Old Testament heroines feature prominently in Jan Massys’s body of work, particularly as nudes. Here he portrays Judith, who saved her fellow Israelites from the forces of Assyrian king Nebuchadnezzar by beheading his general Holofernes. She used her beauty to first win his trust. Massys’s sensual interpretation of the subject is consistent with the 16th-century trend of depicting Judith as a beguiling seductress rather than a virtuous conqueror. This is the earliest signed work by Massys, whose father, Quentin, was an influential Netherlandish painter.
InscriptionsLower right, along back edge of sword blade: O P VS JOHANNES MATSIIS; Lower right, on blade near hilt: [...] 1543
ProvenancePrivate collection, Spain. By 1902, William Turner Dannat (b. 1853 - d. 1929), Paris [see note 1]; 1912, sold by William T. Dannat to the MFA for $6790. (Accession Date: October 3, 1912)
NOTES:
[1] William Turner Dannat was an American painter who worked in Spain and settled in Paris. He acquired several paintings in Spain, probably including this one; according to notes in the MFA curatorial file it had been in a private collection there. When and how it came into Dannat's possession, however, is not known. He lent the painting to the "Exposition des Primitifs Flamands à Bruges" (Bruges, 1902), cat. no. 241.
NOTES:
[1] William Turner Dannat was an American painter who worked in Spain and settled in Paris. He acquired several paintings in Spain, probably including this one; according to notes in the MFA curatorial file it had been in a private collection there. When and how it came into Dannat's possession, however, is not known. He lent the painting to the "Exposition des Primitifs Flamands à Bruges" (Bruges, 1902), cat. no. 241.