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Lot Essay
The scene depicts Judith with the head of the Assyrian general, Holofernes, whom she had decapitated with a sword and is taken from the Old Testament Apocrypha. The discovery by the Assyrians of the deed, threw them into disarray and they fled persued by the Israelites.
She is accompanied by her maid who holds the sack, surrounded by the inhabitants of Bethulia, who were being beseiged by the Assyrians. When the image first appeared in the Middle Ages, she was seen as an example of virtue overcoming vice.
Interestingly a nearly identical Aubusson tapestry was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 22 May 1987, lot 13, but the head of Holofernes in Judith's hands had been omitted and replaced with a laurel wreath.
She is accompanied by her maid who holds the sack, surrounded by the inhabitants of Bethulia, who were being beseiged by the Assyrians. When the image first appeared in the Middle Ages, she was seen as an example of virtue overcoming vice.
Interestingly a nearly identical Aubusson tapestry was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 22 May 1987, lot 13, but the head of Holofernes in Judith's hands had been omitted and replaced with a laurel wreath.