Judith and Holofernes

Judith and Holofernes is one of the four corner spandrel paintings on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, depicting the Hebrew heroine Judith and her maidservant carrying the severed head of the Assyrian general Holofernes. This Old Testament episode of divine deliverance was one of the most popular subjects in Renaissance art, understood as a type of the triumph of virtue over tyranny. Painted around 1509, the scene occupies one of the triangular pendentive spaces at the corners of the ceiling. Together with David and Goliath, the Brazen Serpent, and the Death of Haman, it illustrates God's miraculous salvation of the Israelites.

Michelangelo compresses the dramatic narrative into the triangular spandrel format, with Judith and her maid hurrying away while the headless body of Holofernes writhes on the bed behind them. The strong contrasts of light and dark create a nocturnal atmosphere appropriate to the story's setting. The figures are rendered with the powerful anatomical modeling characteristic of Michelangelo, their movement creating dynamic diagonals within the confined space.