In mental and physical despair, he painted the private works on the interior walls of his home—applying oils directly on plaster[1]—known as the Quinta del Sordo ("The House of the Deaf Man"), which he had purchased in 1819.

[2] The picture is a personal reinterpretation of the narrative of the Book of Judith, in which the protagonist saves Israel from the assault of the general Holofernes by seducing and beheading him.

[citation needed] Judith and Holofernes' palette consists of blacks, ochres and red applied with very free, broad and energetic brushstrokes.

The lighting is both focused and highly theatrical, and seems to imply a night scene lit by a torch, which illuminates Judith's face and outstretched arm and leaves in semidarkness the face of the old serving woman whose darkened outline is shown in prayer.

[4] Along with the other works in the series, the painting was transferred to canvas in 1873–74 for Baron Émile d'Erlanger under the supervision of Salvador Martínez Cubells, a curator at the Museo del Prado.