This canvas is part of a set made up of six landscape paintings: susanna and the elders (p00386), esther before ahasuerus (p00388), judith and holofernes (p00389), the queen of sheba before solomon (p00394), joseph and potiphar's wife (p00395) and moses saved from the waters (p00396), with the same color scheme, a general accentuation of surface drawing and a rhythm of curved shapes that links one painting to another; together with an oval central work (purification of the spoils of the midianite virgins, p00393). Although velázquez bought them for philip iv as a group, they should not have originally formed it. The landscape works are much older than the oval one and are of higher quality, with domenico's intervention being the majority in the latter. It is evident that these works were intended for a secular environment. The biblical themes have lost their dramatic charge, they are barely a pretext to show exotic costumes, courtly ceremonial and naked flesh. Joseph and putiphar's wife (p00395) and judith and holofernes (p00389) stand out as the best of the cycle, especially the beautifully modeled nudes of putiphar's wife and holofernes. There is nothing resembling these paintings in tintoretto's remaining output and it is therefore difficult to date them with certainty. The regular repetition of small calligraphic brushstrokes, in the tassels of dresses and headdresses, the leaves of vegetation, curly shapes of curls and female headdresses, create a global decorative rhythm that will not be repeated in any of his works (text extracted from falomir, miguel: tintoretto, museo nacional del prado, 2007, pp. 177 and 258-265). Object Type: painting. Genre: religious art. Date: between 1552 and 1555. Dimensions: height: 58 cm (22.8 in); width: 119 cm (46.8 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Depicted People: Judith, Holofernes. Collection: Museo del Prado. Judit y Holofernes, por Tintoretto
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