Judith and Holofernes: C.2170-1928

Titles

Judith and Holofernes

Maker(s)

Workshop: Unidentified (Probably)
Workshop: Della Robbia, Giovanni (After)

Entities

• Figure group

Categories

• Tin-glazed earthenware
• Maiolica

Description

Pale buff terracotta, decorated with coloured tin-glazes

Pale buff terracotta, tin-glazed on all surfaces except the back of the pedestal and interior, which is hollow. Glaze colours are blue, yellow, brownish-yellow, brown, manganese-purple and red.
Judith stands on a rectangular pedestal, moulded in relief with an acanthus leaf on each front corner and with a frieze of figures across the front. Her weight is on her right foot and she rests her left on the torso of Holofernes, whose left shoulder and arm project over the edge of the pedestal. Judith holds his decapitated head by its hair in her left hand; her right arm is raised, the hand grasping a sword hilt (the blade missing). She has long hair, waist length at the back, falling in ringlets over her shoulders at the side. She wears a long gown with elbow-length sleeves, and a full-skirted, sleeveless tunic, fastened by a belt and doubled up over her hips. She has sandals, a bead armlet on each arm and a small tiara or frontlet.
The pedestal is yellow with a purple top. Judith's hair is brownish-yellow. Her gown is white with a yellow hem. Her over-gown is blue with yellow ornament round the neck, a yellow belt and hem. Her sandals are purple, her tiara, armlets and sword hilt yellow. Her flesh is tinted slightly pink and her features are delineated in manganese. Holofernes' torso is greyish-white; the edge of his neck is red, his hair and beard brown and his features manganese.

Notes

History note: Dr William Whewell D.D. (1794-1866), Master of Trinity College, Cambridge; Dr Bampstead, Leighton, Trumpington Road, Cambridge; sold on the premises, 14-17th August, 1917, his sale lot 20; sold for £1 to Mr Jolley of Cambridge, by whom sold for £4.10s. on 6 October 1917 to Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge

Legal notes

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest

Place(s) associated

• Florence ⪼ Tuscany ⪼ Italy

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr

Dating

19th Century, first half#
19th Century, Mid#
Circa 1800 CE - 1860 CE

Note

The story of how Judith, a virtuous widow, saved the Israelites from defeat by the Assyrians by decapitating their general, Holofernes, while he slept in a drunken supor, is described in the Apocryphal Book of Judith XIII, 7-8. In art, the theme symbolized the triumph of humility over pride and vice, and we well known to Florentines through Donatello's bronze in the Piazza della Signoria.

The tin-glazed terracotta group of Judith was attributed to Giovanni Della Robbia (1469-1529/3- by Marquand (1920), and this opinion was upheld by Gentilini (nd 1992). Nine examples, excluding the Fitzwilliam/s have been recorded with their present locations by Tscermak von Seysenegg (1986 and 1989). Each model differs in some respects from the others. Rackham (1935) dated this example to about 1525 but it was probably made in the mid-19th century, The revised dating follows thermoluminescence analysis by the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford (sample 581m28 taken 8 October 1993, report dated 19 November 1993) which estimated that the material of the sample was last fired less than 200 years ago, i.e. after 1793. It is not known when Whewell purchased it or whether it belonged to one of his two wives, but given his date of death in 1866 it must have been made before the 1860s.

School or Style

Renaissance