The exhibition catalogue (Skira, 2018, p88) also cites biographer artist Giovanni Baglione's account that the work was commissioned by Genoa banker Ottavio Costa.

A second painting on the same subject (see below) and dated to 1607, attributed by several experts to Caravaggio but still disputed by others, was rediscovered by chance in 2014 and went on sale in June 2019 as "Judith and Holofernes".

X-rays have revealed that Caravaggio adjusted the placement of Holofernes' head as he proceeded, separating it slightly from the torso and moving it minutely to the right.

Artemisia Gentileschi and others were deeply influenced by this work; while they even surpassed Caravaggio's physical realism, it has been argued that none matched his capture of Judith's psychological ambivalence.

[4] The model for Judith is probably the Roman courtesan Fillide Melandroni, who posed for several other works by Caravaggio around this year; the scene itself, especially the details of blood and decapitation, were presumably drawn from his observations of the public execution of Beatrice Cenci in 1599.

Caravaggio's work, which was a gift of Antwerp's leading artists and an expression of their deep religious devotion had thus become the object of looting by the Austrian rulers of Flanders.

[11] It was instead bought by art collector and hedge fund manager J.Tomilson Hill for an undisclosed amount of money shortly before the planned auction, in June 2019.