Judith with the Head of Holofernes (Mantegna, Washington)

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Judith with the Head of Holofernes is an Italian Renaissance painting attributed to Andrea Mantegna or a follower, possibly Giulio Campagnola. Made in tempera with gold and silver on a panel around 1495–1500, it measures 30.6 cm by 19.7 cm and is kept at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The scene shows Judith standing under Holofernes’ pink tent just after beheading him; she holds the blade while a maid lowers the severed head into a sack. Holofernes’ foot appears on the right. The work’s date is inferred by comparing it with Mantegna’s similar grisaille Old Testament panels from the late 15th century.

The painting’s provenance reaches back to the Gonzaga collection and later ownership by Charles I of England in 1628, then to William Herbert, 6th Earl of Pembroke, followed by a 1917 sale in London and a string of owners before Joseph E. Widener bought it in 1923. He donated it to the National Gallery of Art in 1942. The panel is noted for its bright, varied colors that give it a miniature-like look. The ground shows a diagonal perspective of stone and earth slabs, some of which are misaligned. The work’s composition also appears in Mantegna’s other grisaille depictions of Judith and Holofernes in Dublin and Montreal, as well as a related drawing in the Uffizi.