Judith with the Head of Holofernes

As told in the Bible, the Jewish heroine Judith slew the Assyrian general Holofernes, who had laid siege to her city. Pretending to desert her people, Judith attracted the attention of Holofernes, who invited her into his tent. When he passed out drunk, she beheaded him. Here, Judith is shown in a solemn and heroic pose, her upturned head a sign of the divine inspiration that enabled her to save her people. Ignazio Collino left his home in northern Italy for Rome, to study the art of classical antiquity, which he copied in drawings and small terra-cotta sculptures. This statue is Collino’s earliest known work of his own invention. It drew great admiration and praise and laid the foundation for his later fame.