105
Ippolito Scarsella, called Scarsellino
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
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Ippolito Scarsella, called Scarsellino
Ferrara circa 1550 - 1620
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
oil on canvas
canvas: 35 1/4 by 29 in.; 89.5 by 73.7 cm.
framed: 44 by 43 in.; 111.8 by 109.2 cm.
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Private collection, Italy;
By whom anonymously sold, Milan, Sotheby’s, 12 June 2001, lot 90 (as Emilian School, 17th century);
There acquired.
By whom anonymously sold, Milan, Sotheby’s, 12 June 2001, lot 90 (as Emilian School, 17th century);
There acquired.
M. Novelli, Scarsellino, Milan, 2008, p. 330, cat. no. 286, reproduced in color p. 284.
Scarsellino's depiction of the most dramatic moment in the story of Old Testament heroine Judith can be dated to the second decade of the seventeenth century on the basis of his highly descriptive and naturalistic style. The statuesque Judith wears a jeweled, deep blue costume that presents her as a predecessor of the Virgin, and the elderly handmaid and ugly face of the dead Holofernes act as foils to Judith's beauty.