Judith

Palma Vecchio's Judith from around 1525 in the Uffizi depicts the Hebrew heroine who decapitated the Assyrian general Holofernes to save her city — a subject that combined theological celebration of female courage with the obvious dramatic interest of a beautiful woman holding a severed head. Judith was a popular subject in Venetian painting, her combination of beauty, courage, and decisive violence appealing to the humanist culture that valued active heroic virtue in both sexes. Palma's Judith reflects his mature command of Venetian figure painting — the warm flesh tones, the rich dress, the psychological composure of a woman who has done what needed doing.

Palma Vecchio renders Judith with his characteristic warm, golden flesh tones and broad painterly technique, using the richly colored costume and calm, beautiful face to create an image of composed feminine power.