Introduction / The Early Years


Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1512
oil on panel
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, Rome

The Jewish heroine Judith saved her people from the Assyrians by beheading the enemy general Holofernes with his own sword. Lotto's dramatic close-up view reduces this grisly biblical story to its essentials, focusing attention on Judith as a model of female valor.

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