The attribution to Cranach has never been challenged, although greater scrutiny of his workshop may well lead to a more informed understanding of its participation in paintings such as this, which were produced in many versions. The Met's panel shows at the lower right the insignia of Lucas Cranach the Elder in its form before 1537, and the technique and execution of the painting are entirely consistent with the paintings of Cranach and his workshop in the early 1530s, a date also supported by Judith's costume. After cleaning and restoration, the painting could be more readily compared with other examples of the same theme produced by Cranach and his workshop, notably those in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, and the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart. At that time Holofernes's beard had been enlarged to cover his severed neck. This panel first became known in 1911, when it was purchased by the Museum from the estate of Robert Hoe. Upon discovering the assassination, the Assyrians ended the siege (Judith 8–15). After seducing Holofernes with her beauty and a false plan to defeat her people, Judith decapitated him as he lay drunk in his tent. The Book of Judith, part of the Old Testament Apocrypha, relates how the beautiful Jewish widow killed Holofernes, the Assyrian general directing the siege of her city, Bethulia.
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