Judith holds up the head of Holofernes while staring at the viewer with a gaze as steadfast as her clenched fist. The story, taken from the biblical Apocrypha, tells how the Jewish heroine crept into the Assyrian camp under the pretext of seducing their general, before beheading him with his own sword and saving her people from defeat. Allori's biographer revealed that the face of Judith is modelled on the artist's ex-lover 'La Mazzafirra', while Allori includes a self-portrait as the decapitated Holofernes.

Cat. 98