Judith & Holofernes. Italian School Of The End Of The XVIIth Century

Oil on its canvas and original stretcher (121 x 91 cm) Gilt wood frame with a frieze of water leaves (136 x 105 cm) Painted at the hinge of the 17th and 18th centuries, our painting built on a double diagonal with a tightly framed subject, shows us a Judith who has just defeated the tyrant Holofernes still in her tent. The applied touch, the palette of frank and tangy colors, the drapes of her garment with sophisticated folds, like a heroine in a baroque opera, as well as the refinement of the pommel of her sword, allows us to orient ourselves towards the painter Ignazio Stern known as Stella (1679-1748). This artist of Austrian origin left very young for Italy where he was a pupil of Carlo Cignani in Bologna, he worked in Lombardy, then in Rome where he settled permanently until his death. The biblical account: Nebuchadnezzar II sent Holofernes to chastise the peoples of the west because they refused to support him in the war he waged against the Persian king Arphaxad. After plundering, killing and ravaging throughout the Near East, Holofernes besieges Bethulia, (probably Massalah) which bars a passage in the mountains of Judea. As the water runs out, the inhabitants are about to surrender, but a young widow, Judith, of extraordinary beauty and considerable wealth, makes the decision to save the city. With her servant Abra and jugs of wine she enters the camp of Holofernes; the latter is immediately bewitched by the beauty and intelligence of this woman; he organizes a grand banquet in his honor at the end of which his servants retire discreetly so as not to disturb the night of love which, they think, awaits their master. But she continues to intoxicate him and, when he is unable to defend himself, she decapitates him with the help of her servant and returns to Bethulia with his head. When the soldiers discover their leader assassinated in the morning, they panic: some flee and others are easily defeated. Very good original condition, sold with descriptive invoice & certificate