Judith

Alfred Stevens 1818 - 1875

Summary

Standing female figurine dressed in classical robes and headdress looking to the right with her head and gaze tilted upwards. Her right arm is forward of her body and in this hand she holds a sword which is pointing down to the ground slightly behind her. In her left hand, which is down at her side, she holds the decapitated head of a bearded man, Holofernes, by his hair. A sketch model of Judith, one of three Old Testament figures proposed by Alfred Stevens for the decoration of the dome in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London (it was intended to go in one of the niches round the Whispering Gallery beneath the great dome). Between 1862 and 1865 Steven’s was commissioned to produce designs for the proposed redecoration of St Paul’s, a project that did not in the end, come to fruition. See this version in the V&A: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O313496/judithsketch-model-alfred-stevens/