Lot 1278 Dα

The design of the equally classical and powerful figure of Judith reveals a tradition that goes back to Guido Reni. Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari was Carlo Maratta's most important pupil and successor and the main representative of a classicist Baroque style in late Seicento Rome. Chiari's depiction of the Old Testament heroine comes closest to a much-admired full-figure composition by Guido Reni, which is in the Sedelmayer Collection and has been copied numerous times.