Judith Showing the Head of Holofernes to the People

The Jewish widow Judith rescues the town of her forefathers, Bethulia, which is besieged by the Assyrians. She went to the enemy camp outside the town, gained the favour of the general, Holofernes, and cut off his head in the night. Upon her return, she triumphantly shows her astonished people the head of Holofernes. Depictions of the Old Testament story of Judith were considered symbolic of the highest moral strictness and of passionate love of one’s fatherland. The picture was painted on a commission from the Austrian viceroy in Naples, Alois Thomas, Count Harrach.