1568
oil
canvas
From the collection of Ashmolean Museum
Judith about to kill Holofernes is a 1568 oil by Paolo Veronese, held at Ashmolean Museum.
The painting depicts a woman, Judith, standing over a man, Holofernes, who is lying on a bed. She holds a sword in her right hand, poised to strike. The scene is set in a dark room with red curtains, and a servant stands in the background, looking on. The woman's yellow dress and the servant's green attire stand out against the somber backdrop. The overall mood of the painting is tense and dramatic, with the impending violence hanging in the air. This painting is reminiscent of the dramatic use of light and shadow found in works by the artist who employed chiaroscuro, a technique that uses strong contrasts between light and dark to create a sense of volume in modeling three-dimensional objects and figures.
Paolo Caliari (1528 – 19 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( VERR-ə-NAY-zay, -zee, US also -see; Italian: ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of…
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