Judith and Holofernes (Vernet)

Judith and Holofernes is an oil on canvas painting by Horace Vernet, from 1830. He was then director of the Académie de France à Rome[1][2][3] It shows Judith just before beheading Holofernes. Since 22 December 1912 it has been in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pau.[4]

History

Two models sat for the work; Olympe Pélissier for Judith and Federico Ricci as Holofernes.[1][2] Vernet produced two studies - a nude bust of Pélissier and a study of two figures together, with Judith seducing and in contact with Holofernes, unlike the finished work.[5]

It was first exhibited at the 1831 Paris salon, where it was noted by the art critics Étienne-Jean Delécluze, Charles Blanc and Heinrich Heine.[2] It influenced the chapter "Sous la tente" in Gustave Flaubert's Salammbô, A Woman's Vengeance in Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly's Les Diaboliques and Friedrich Hebbel's play Judith.[2]

It was bought by the Direction des Musées Royaux,[4] and placed on display at the Musée du Luxembourg before the end of that year. It was moved to the Château de Saint-Cloud in 1835.[4] It was later assigned to the Department of Paintings in the Louvre, before being deposited in its present home.

A copy of the work by a painter called "Rouede" or "Rouche", who eventually became a pupil of Vernet, was rediscovered in the 1990s around dustbins by an inhabitant of Toulouse.[6]


References

  1. ^ a b Ambroise, Ségura & Vasquez 2007, p. 120.
  2. ^ a b c d Comte 1993.
  3. ^ (in French) "Judith, beauté vengeresse et héroïne biblique". pau.fr. 29 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b c (in French) "Judith et Holopherne". Louvre Collections..
  5. ^ (in French) Marion Cazaux (2017-12-12). "Judith et Holopherne, Horace Vernet". Florilèges..
  6. ^ (in French) Sylvie Roux (19 April 2016). "De qui est ce tableau trouvé sur des ordures à Toulouse ?". La Dépêche du Midi..

Bibliography (in French)

  • Ambroise, Guillaume; Ségura, Patrick; Vasquez, Dominique (2007). Peintures du 19th century. Musée des beaux-arts de Pau. Bordeaux: Le Festin. p. 120-121. ISBN 978-2-915262-56-8.
  • Comte, Philippe (1977). "Judith et Holopherne ou la naissance d'une tragédie". Revue du Louvre et des musées de France (3): 137–139..
  • Comte, Philippe (1993). Ville de Pau : Musée des Beaux-Arts, catalogue des peintures, 2nd edition.
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