Robilant+Voena is pleased to announce that our painting by the 17th-century artist Fede Galizia has been acquired by the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. This previously unknown picture, depicting Judith with the Head of Holofernes (a preferred subject of the artist) demonstrates the inventiveness and virtuosity of Galizia's artistry in her mature phase.
Galizia was an Italian Renaissance painter active in Milan. Born into an artistic family, she was the daughter of the miniature painter Nunzio Galizia, who likely provided her early training. Galizia gained recognition for her finely detailed portraits, religious works, and especially her still-life paintings. At a time when few women achieved professional success as artists, Galizia earned widespread admiration for her technical skill and artistic innovation.
Galizia's Judith with the Head of Holofernes reprises a significant subject within the painter’s oeuvre. Galizia had a special relationship with the figure of the biblical heroine Judith; her extraordinary story fascinated artists and intellectuals of all eras, but she became a fully-fledged icon in the post-Tridentine era. The artist treated this subject no fewer than five times, with other examples in the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida, and the Galleria Borghese, Rome.