(Paris 1679-1752 Rome)
Judith Holding Holofernes’Head
Oil on canvas.
195 x 147 cm
Framed : 227 x 180 cm
Signed and dated : DE TROY 1730
Louis XV Frame
Provenance :
M. Denisot, at M. Bossu, Rue Saint-Denis, Paris, in August 1782; Private collection, Italy
Bibliographie : Christophe Leribault, Jean-François de Troy, 1679-1752, Arthena, 2002, P.343, p. 416 (mentioned as lost)
The preeminent place of Jean-François de Troy at the heart of the French School of the 18th century, has at its origin his position as Director of the Académie de France in Rome for 14 years. During this time, a whole generation trained under his vigilant eye, a generation that would sow the seeds for a renewal of the arts in France and the birth of Neoclassicism.
The rediscovery in an Italian collection of an important History painting by his hand, in a superb state of conservation and illustrating a favorite theme of Baroque painting, shed new light on a turning point in his career in the 1730s. During these years, he attracted the kingdom’s great financiers as clients, allowing him to free himself from both his father’s teachings and the influence of the Grand Siècle, making the period one of the most active and brilliant of his career.
In our canvas, he demonstrates his gifts for invention and composition, enhanced by a particularly sensual and brilliant execution.
Until today, our painting was only known through two references: from its sale by a certain “Bossu,” Rue Saint-Denis, in Paris, in 1782, when it was accompanied by an Esther and Ahasuerus and a Samson and Delilah of the same dimensions; then, again with these same works, when it appeared at public auction at the Hôtel de Bullion—ancestor of the Hôtel Drouot—on 30 November of the same year.
The story of Judith and Holofernes is drawn from the Book of Judith, in the Old Testament. This episode celebrates the virtues of courage and chastity in a heroic woman, and may be interpreted as the triumph of the Church over heresy. A rich and beautiful widow from the city of Bethulia, Judith promises to save the city, under siege by the Assyrian troops of Nabuchodonosor II (605-562 av. J.C.). She goes to the enemy camp to seduce its leader, General Holofernes, getting him drunk during a feast. When the drunken soldier falls asleep, Judith decapitates him, then suspends his head from the walls of the city. Terrified, the soldiers retreat, abandoning the siege.
As in The Death of Cleopatra (Musée des Beaux-Arts in Strasbourg, 1731), de Troy chose to set the scene in front of a curtain, its folds enlivened by the interplay of shadow and light which creates a dramatic atmosphere by concentrating the eye of the viewer on the foreground. Conversely, the violence and heroism of the drama are tempered by the care taken with the decorative aspects of the composition, as is also the case for Esther Fainting before the King (Louvre Abu Dhabi, 1730).
The cool colors of the sumptuous fabric of Judith’s dress, with its intertwining plant motifs inspired by the Orient, are set off by the alternating stripes in warm colors of that of the servant. The crest of Holofernes’s helmet, the foot of the bed bearing the signature De Troy, the sword guard, the head coverings and jewels of the women, the virtuosity of the white drapery—all act as pretexts to underline the artist’s talent as a decorator, and the freeness of his brushwork.
Using the interplay of their arms and the looks exchanged by the women, the composition forms a pyramid, with Judith’s head, eyes cast down toward the head of Holofernes, at its apex. The drama is consummated, the gratitude in the look given by the servant to her mistress justifies the violence of the gesture.
When they took up the theme, Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi chose to depict the most violent, bloodiest moment in the story, that of the decapitation. Jean-François de Troy preferred to conceal the most shocking aspects of the biblical drama. The body lies inert, seemingly still heavy with drink, its dreadful wound hidden by a cloth, and the head of Holofernes, eyes closed and features almost serene, is about to vanish into the servant’s bag, concluding this tragic moment.
The very spirit of the work corresponds well to the classical, measured and noble style of the artist, and the “dignity in the way the figures carry themselves,” described by Dandré-Bardon.
Biography : Son of the painter François de Troy under whom he studied, Jean-François de Troy (Self-portrait, Château de Versailles) lived in Italy from 1699 to 1706. He was very impressed by the great Venetian painters, Veronese and Palma. Upon his return to Paris, he was taken into the Académie in 1708 with Apollo and Diana Shooting Arrows into the Flesh of Niobe’s Children (Montpellier, Musée Fabre). A few years later, his Susanna and the Elders (1715; Moscow, Pushkin Museum) and Lot and his Daughters (1721; Saint-Petersburg, Hermitage Museum) show the influence of Guerchin and give all of his career its orientation.
