Judith | Narodna galerija

The motif of this wonderful painting
is taken from the Bible (Judith 13, 1–9) and shows Judith just after she has
cut off Holofernes’ head (his corpse can be seen in the background on the left)
and is handing it to a maid to put it into a sack. The heroine is gazing to the
heavens and thanking the Lord. The painting is attributed to
Giuseppe Diamantini, a painter and graphic artist who worked in Venice and
Veneto under the influence of the Venetian painter Pietro Liberi (1605–1687).
Judith’s face relates to the face of the angel musician in Diamantini’s
painting The Carmelite Mother of God with St Simon Stock and Teresa of Ávila
from the Church of St Francis in Zadar.

Artist Giuseppe Diamantini

Year of creation (1660−1670)

Technique oil, canvas

Dimensions 131,2 x 105,3 cm

Inventory number NG S 1271, National Gallery of Slovenia, Ljubljana

Collection 1600–1700

A. Cevc, Stari tuji, I, pp. 21-22, Cat. No. 24, Fig. 15
(Giovanni Andrea Donducci, called Il Mastelletta); G. Gamulin, Doprinos
Emilijancima, Peristil, 4, pp. 101, 107, Fig. 5 (Giovanni Andrea Mastelletta); G.
Gamulin, Stari majstori u Jugoslaviji, II, Zagreb 1964, pp. 127, 133, Fig. 76
(Mastellettta); Alb. Rizzi, 1972, p. 133, No. 24 (Tuscan (?), 17 century); G.
Gamulin, Neobjavljeni Seicento. Il Seicento inedito, Peristil, 16/17,
1973/1974, pp. 83-84, Fig. on p. 84; Zeri [& Rozman], 1983, pp. 29-30, Cat.
No. 16, Fig. 17; N. Kudiš Burić, Alcune proposte per Giuseppe Diamantini
pittore, Arte documento, 26, 2010, p. 226, Fig. 4