GIOVANNI BAGLIONE | Judith with the head of Holofernes

With Walpole Gallery, London;

Acquired by the present owner in December 2001.

G. Vaughan, J. Spike et al., Caravaggio & his world: darkness & light, exh. cat., Sydney and Melbourne 2003, pp. 68, 104–05, cat. no. 13, reproduced in colour p. 105;

G. Papi (ed.), La 'Schola' del Caravaggio. Dipinti dalla Collezione Koelliker, exh. cat., Milan 2006, pp. 76–77, cat. no. 14, reproduced in colour p. 77;

A. Galli, In pursuit of Caravaggio, C. Miner (ed.), Turin, pp. 48–49, cat. no. 4, reproduced in colour p. 48.

Only discovered prior to the Sydney/Melbourne exhibition of 2003–04 (see Literature), Judith with the head of Holofernes is an important addition to the œuvre of Giovanni Baglione. This canvas is one of a group produced in the artist's maturity that he painted in response to the revolutionary works of the young Caravaggio; its date of execution has been a subject of debate. John T. Spike (see Literature) believes this Judith to have been executed post 1610, in the wake of Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi's own interpretations of the subject. Gianni Papi, in his 2006 analysis of this painting (see Literature) also dates the execution of the present work to between 1610–15 and draws stylistic comparisons with Baglione's 1608 treatment of this subject in the Borghese collection, Rome;¹ with his Ecce Homo, also in the Borghese collection but currently on loan to the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome;² and with his Saint Sebastian in the Mary Jane Harris collection.³ Papi notes that closer still is a painting by Baglione of an obscure allegorical subject, whose whereabouts are unknown; it is known from photographs.⁴ Along with many stylistic similarities, that painting also shares with the present canvas the inclusion of significant pieces of jewellery. The pair of gold link bracelets here are seemingly exactly the same as those included in the allegorical scene; they were perhaps in Baglione's possession and used as a studio prop.

¹ M. Smith O'Neil, Giovanni Baglione: Artistic reputation in Baroque Rome, Cambridge 2002, p. 210, cat. no. 39, reproduced pl. VI.

² Smith O'Neil 2002, p. 211, cat. no. 42, reproduced pl. VIII.

³ Smith O'Neil 2002, p. 203, cat. no. 21, reproduced p. 76, pl. 39.

⁴ See Papi 2006, p. 76, fig. 1.