Judith, a beautiful and pious widow of the Tribe of Simeon, executes a plan to deliver Bethulia from the Assyrian general Holofernes.

Wearing her rich attire, and accompanied by her maid, who carries a bag of provisions, she goes to the hostile camp, where she is at once conducted to the general, whose suspicions are disarmed by the tales she invents.

No sooner is he overcome with sleep than Judith, seizing his sword, strikes off his head and gives it to her maid; both now leave the camp (as they had previously been accustomed to do, ostensibly for prayer) and return to Bethulia, where the trophy is displayed amid rejoicings and thanksgivings.

[3] The picture was probably first recorded in the collection of the Florentine aristocrat and art collector Marchese Gerini by Francesco Bocchi and Giovanni Cinelli in 1677.

It was purchased by Esdel B. Ford from a private collection in New York City in 1935, and gifted to the Detroit Institute of Arts later that year.