Lorenzo Lippi Florence 1606 - 1665

For much of his early career Lorenzo Lippi was apprenticed in the workshop of Matteo Rosselli, along with other painters such as Baldassare Franceschini, called il Volterrano, and Jacopo Vignali (to whom this painting was traditionally attributed). Lippi did not open his own independent practice until 1634 and continued working in association with Rosselli until at least 1640. He was considered one of the principal painters of the second half of the 17th century in Florence and was greatly esteemed by contemporaries; in particular by his friend the biographer Filippo Baldinucci (1681-1728).

Though the style of this painting recalls that of Lippi's contemporary in Florence, Jacopo Vignali, the existence of a red chalk drawing of the figure of Judith confirms the painting's attribution to the former (see Fig. 1; inv. 1 261, Cabinet des Dessins, Musée du Louvre, Paris; first published by C. Thiem, Florentiner Zeichner des Frühbarock, Munich 1977, p. 390, no. 190, reproduced). Since the drawing once belonged to Baldinucci its attribution to Lippi seems certain, as does that of the painting. The sketch has been dated by Thiem to circa 1640 (op. cit.) and a similar date might be suggested for the present canvas. The drawing had been erroneously linked to another painting by Lippi, showing Judith with the head of Holofernes in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Narbonne (see V. Durey Lavergne, Seicento: le siècle de Caravage dans les collections françaises, exhibition catalouge, Paris, Grand Palais, 11 October 1988 - 2 January 1989, p. 262, under cat. no. 94), but the fact that the Louvre sheet shows Judith in profile and details such as her costume and the braid in her hair find parallels in this painting, confirm that it must have been drawn in preparation for this canvas.

Another variant of this painting is in the collection of R. Kempe, New York (see C. d'Afflitto, Lorenzo Lippi, Florence 2002, p. 221, cat. no. 50, reproduced in colour p. 89).