Judith and Her Maidservant

Correggio's Judith and Her Maidservant from around 1510 depicts the Jewish heroine who saved her people by beheading the Assyrian general Holofernes. This early work engages with a dramatic biblical narrative that was popular throughout Renaissance Italy, providing painters with an opportunity to combine the heroic female figure with violence and moral purpose. Correggio at this date was still developing his style, absorbing the lessons of Leonardo's sfumato and Mantegna's archaeological approach while moving toward his own distinctive manner. The subject's combination of feminine beauty, cunning, and deadly action made it a perennial favorite in Italian painting, painted by everyone from Donatello to Artemisia Gentileschi. Even in this early work, Correggio's characteristic warmth and the developing atmospheric quality of his flesh painting are visible, pointing toward the revolutionary mature style he would achieve in Parma. The painting is now held at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg, one of France's leading regional museums and home to an important collection of Renaissance works.

The developing sfumato and warm palette show the young Correggio moving toward his mature style, with the dramatic subject rendered with the atmospheric subtlety that would become his hallmark.