The Discovery of the Body of Holofernes
- Date
- 1703–4
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- European Art to 1800
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 204
- Dimensions
- 30 1/4 x 40 1/2 in. (76.8 x 102.9 cm)
framed: 36 3/4 x 46 3/4 x 2 1/4 in. (93.3 x 118.7 x 5.7 cm) - Credit Line
- Museum Purchase
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 61:1965
NOTES
The body of the murdered Assyrian general Holofernes forms the focal point in this oil sketch, part of Luca Giordano's last cycle of paintings. Holofernes led an army that besieged the city of Bethulia, home to the beautiful Jewish widow Judith. Having accepted the general's invitation to dine, Judith beheaded him when he fell into an inebriated sleep. The chaotic foreground of the painting conveys the distress of the Assyrian troops who discover their general's headless corpse.
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