Judith
Jan Sanders van Hemessen·c. 1540
Historical Context
Jan Sanders van Hemessen's Judith from around 1540 depicts the Old Testament heroine who saved her people by beheading the Assyrian general Holofernes. Van Hemessen, an Antwerp painter, was among the first Netherlandish artists to produce large-scale, monumental figure paintings influenced by Italian models. His powerful, muscular female figures demonstrate the ambitious figure style that distinguished Antwerp Romanism from the earlier Netherlandish tradition of smaller-scale panel painting.
Technical Analysis
Van Hemessen's oil-on-panel technique creates monumental, sculptural figures with the bold modeling and dramatic lighting learned from Italian painting. The strong chiaroscuro and the forceful physical presence of the Judith figure demonstrate the Romanist ambition to match Italian grandeur on Netherlandish terms.
Provenance
Marie Catherine d’Onyn de Chastre (née Baronne de Herckenrode) (1731–1824); sold, Douarière d’Onyn de Chastre (née Baronne de Herckenrode), Leuven, Belgium, June 10, 1825, lot 129, to Désiré van den Schrieck (1785–1857), Leuven, Belgium. With Robert Lebel, Paris, by 1956; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1956.
