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Judith

Giovanni della Robbia (Italian, Florentine, 1469–1529 (?))
Italian (Florence)
Renaissance
about 1520
Object Place: Europe, Florence, Italy

Medium/Technique Glazed terracotta
Dimensions 71.12 cm (28 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Mrs. Albert J. Beveridge in memory of Delia Spencer Field
Accession Number46.839
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsSculpture

DescriptionJudith on rectangular base, yellow sides, low relief on front & winged figures at front corners. In flowing blue robe yellow trimmed & tied, slashed at sides, white undershirt & blouse, holds sword in upraised right arm (mended) head of Holofernes in left.
ProvenanceAdolf von Beckerath (b. 1834 - d. 1915), Berlin [see note 1]. By 1923, A. S. Drey, Munich [see note 2]; sold by Drey, probably to Delia Spencer (Mrs. Marshall) Field (b. 1854 - d. 1937), Paris and Washington, D.C.; probably by inheritance to her niece, Catherine Spencer Eddy (Mrs. Albert J.) Beveridge (b. 1881 - d. 1970), Beverly Farms, MA; 1946, gift of Mrs. Albert J. Beveridge to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 12, 1946)

NOTES:
[1] According to information provided by Mrs. Beveridge, this statuette and its companion (MFA accession no. 46.840) had come from the collection of Beckerath and were sold in Berlin. [2] The exact date that the statuettes were sold is unknown. Mrs. Beveridge provided an undated list of works of art that had been acquired from Drey, probably by her aunt, Mrs. Marshall Field. That the Judith was with Drey in 1923 was noted by Frank J. Mather and published by Allan Marquand, The Brothers of Giovanni della Robbia (Princeton, 1928), 188, cat. no. 212b.