Updated 18 April 2025
On Display Permanent collection
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
| Date | ca. 1530 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | oil on panel |
| Size（cm） | 37.2 x 25 |
| Inscriptions | Signed lower right with the winged serpent device |
| Standard ref. | FR (1932) 192; FR (1978) 233; CDA PRIVATE_NONE-P121 |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.2018-0001 |
A woman holds up the freshly severed head of a man, staring unflinchingly out at the viewer. Here the major German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Elder depicts an important work on one of his favorite themes, the Hebrew heroine Judith. While small in scale, this panel painting is in very well condition. Judith saved her home city of Bethulia by seducing the attacking general Holofernes with her beauty, and then killing him as he lay drunk on wine. The power of this brave, alluring woman emerges from this image created in Cranach's distinctively delicate brushwork characteristic of his mature period. (Source: Gallery label, August 2020)
Provenance
(Presumably) George I, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1747-1813), Arlosen Castle, Bad Arolsen, Hesse Germany; by whom given to his daughter; Princess Ida Caroline of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1796-1869), according to an inscription, verso, and her husband George William, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (1784-1860), Bückeburg, Niedersachsen, Lower Saxony, presumably on the occasion of their wedding, 23 June 1816; and by descent to their son; Adolf I, Prince Schaumburg-Lippe (1817-1893), m. Princess Hermine of Waldeck and Pyrmont; and by descent to their son; Georg, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (1846-1911), m. Princess Marie Anne of Saxe-Altenburg; and by descent to their son; Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (1883-1936); Rosenbaum, Frankfurt-am-Main, acquired from the above in 1929; Dr. Wilfried Greif (1883-1937), New York, by 1932; Galerie Nathan, Zürich, inv. no. 956 (according to a label, verso); private collection, Germany, acquired from the above in the 1960s; and by descent; purchased by NMWA, 3 August 2018.
Exhibition History
- 2024
- Does the Future Sleep Here?: Revisiting the Museum's Response to Contemporary Art after 65 Years, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 12 March 2024 - 12 May 2024
Bibliography
- 1932
- Friedländer, Max J.; Rosenberg, Jokob. Die Gamälde von Lucas Cranach. Berlin, Deutscher Verein für Kunstwissenschaft, 1932, S. 66, Nr. 192.
- 1972
- Nathan Peter; Nathan, Fritz. Dr. Fritz Nathan und Dr. Peter Nathan, 1922-1972. Zürich, 1972, Nr. 4.
- 1978
- Friedländer, Max J.; Rosenberg, Jokob. The Paintings of Lucas Cranach. Norden, Heinz; Taylor, Ronald, trans. Revised ed., London, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1978, p. 116, no. 233.
- 2019
- Shinfuji, Atsushi; Manabe, Chie. Things seen thanks to a small Judith: report on the survey conducted on the NMWA’s newly acquired 《Judith with the Head of Holofernes》by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Journal of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. No. 23, 2019, pp. 4-22, col. repr. [with English abstract]
- 2020
- Annual Bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 53 (Apr. 2018-Mar. 2019), 2020, Shinfuji, Atsushi. New Acquisitions. pp. 10-12, List of New Acquisitions. p. 22, col. repr.
- 2024
- Does the Future Sleep Here?: Revisiting the Museum's Response to Contemporary Art after 65 Years (exh. cat.). Shinfuji, Atsushi; Mochizuki, Kaoru, eds. [Tokyo], Culture Convenience Club; Bijutsu Shuppan-sha, 2024, pp. 114, 304, col. repr.