Judith with her servant

Domenico Ghirlandaio painted this scene of Judith with her servant around 1489, giving narrative vitality to the biblical heroine who saved Israel by beheading the Assyrian general Holofernes. Judith was enormously popular in Florentine art, where she symbolized civic virtue, the triumph of faith over tyranny, and the particular Florentine capacity for righteous action. Donatello's bronze Judith had stood in the Piazza della Signoria since the 1460s as a civic emblem. Ghirlandaio's narrative clarity and confident figure drawing made him ideally suited to such dramatic Old Testament subjects. The servant's role as accomplice and witness adds psychological depth. The subject may reflect particular topicality in the late 1480s, when political tensions in Florence were increasing under Medici authority.

Tempera on panel with Ghirlandaio's characteristic clear drawing and narrative directness. The two women are depicted with the naturalistic detail and elegant costuming typical of his biblical narratives.