Judith (or Salome?)
Sebastiano del Piombo1510
The National Gallery, London
London, United Kingdom
A young woman is moving towards an open window or door through which a hilly landscape can be seen. She turns to look back at us over her shoulder, her arm parallel with a stone parapet on which the date 1510 is written. On a metal salver she carries the greyish-green severed head of a man. The woman’s expression is hard to read – her lips are pressed closed but her eyes glint with moisture and emotion. Her identity is not entirely clear – she could be Salome with the head of John the Baptist or Judith with the head of Holofernes.
We do not know who commissioned this painting, which the young Sebastiano painted shortly before he moved permanently to Rome. The atmospheric rendering of the landscape view reveals the influence of his older colleagues Giovanni Bellini and especially Giorgione, with whom Sebastiano appears to have been close.
- Title: Judith (or Salome?)
- Creator: Sebastiano del Piombo
- Date Created: 1510
- Physical Dimensions: 54.9 x 44.5 cm
- Medium: Oil on wood
- School: Italian
- More Info: Explore the National Gallery’s paintings online
- Artist Dates: about 1485 - 1547
- Artist Biography: Venetian-born and trained, perhaps by Giorgione, Sebastiano moved in 1511 to Rome, where he became a major portraitist and painter of religious subjects. He was a protégé of Michelangelo, who significantly influenced his art. His late style could be dark and sombre, and his figures have an almost clumsy force. Sebastiano's early Venetian works resemble those by Giorgione. The Pope's banker, Agostino Chigi, one of the great patrons of the time, recognised his talent and brought him to Rome, where he also painted for patrons such as Pierfrancesco Borgherini. It was in Rome that Sebastiano became one of the rare friends of Michelangelo, and was drawn into his rivalry with Raphael. This culminated in Michelangelo providing designs for Sebastiano's Raising of Lazarus, in an effort to outshine its direct competitor, Raphael's 'Transfiguration'. After Raphael's death, Sebastiano was the foremost painter in Rome and the first artist to return there (from Venice in 1529) after the 1527 Sack of Rome. The Pope rewarded his service by making him Keeper of the Papal Seal (hence his name the Piombo).
- Acquisition Credit: Salting Bequest, 191
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