CRANACH, Lucas the Elder
(b. 1472, Kronach, d. 1553, Weimar)

Judith Victorious

c. 1530
Beech panel, 75 x 56 cm
Jagdschloss Grunewald, Berlin

The Jagdschloss Grunewald is a relatively modest hunting lodge in Berlin begun by the Kurfürst Joachim II of Brandenburg in the early sixteenth century. It is located in the woods, close to the city's suburbs. Many Dutch, Flemish, and German painting - mostly dating between the sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries - decorates the building. One of these paintings is Cranach's Judith Victorious, which shows a lighthearted heroine.

There are other version of this subject, among them one in Kassel. Comparing the two, the Berlin Judith seems more coquettish, she is turned further to the left and looks at the viewer through the corners of her eyes. The Kassel figure, placed more firmly frontally on in the scene, seems simpler and more clear-cut.