Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Judith with the Head of Holofernes, dated around 1700 at the Christ Church Picture Gallery in Oxford — well after Strozzi's 1644 death — raises attribution questions while connecting to one of the most charged subjects in Baroque painting. Judith, the Jewish widow who seduced the Assyrian general Holofernes and beheaded him to save her people, had been treated by Caravaggio in two celebrated versions, by Artemisia Gentileschi with feminist intensity, and by dozens of other Baroque painters attracted by the subject's combination of female heroism and extreme violence. The Christ Church Picture Gallery, part of Oxford University, holds Flemish and Italian Baroque works collected by the deans and canons of Christ Church over several centuries. If the work is Strozzi, it would represent either a late date error or a workshop version.

Canvas with the close, half-length format typical of Baroque Judith treatments — the heroine brought to intimate proximity with her act and its severed evidence. Judith's face carries the psychological complexity the subject demands. The Assyrian general's head is rendered with enough anatomical specificity to register its horror without overwhelming the composition.