The Return of Judith to Bethulia

The Return of Judith to Bethulia from circa 1470 at the Uffizi is one of Botticelli's earliest narrative paintings, depicting the Jewish heroine returning from the Assyrian camp with her maid carrying Holofernes's severed head. The paired panels of Judith's return and the discovery of Holofernes's body were probably painted for Rodolfo Sirigatti or another Medici associate as domestic decorations. The subject offered Botticelli opportunity for the combination of female grace and violent consequence that characterizes much early Florentine narrative painting: Judith walks with elegant composure while carrying a severed head, her virtue underscored by the trophy of her courage. This early work shows Botticelli's linear mastery already in command.

The two women move through a landscape with Botticelli's characteristic flowing grace, the dramatic narrative of beheading and liberation rendered with an elegance that transforms violent subject matter into rhythmic beauty.