Judith met het hoofd van Holofernes

The biblical heroine Judith stands outside a tent, holding a sword in one hand and the severed head of the general Holofernes in the other. Her elderly maidservant, Abra, holds open a bag to receive the head as they prepare to flee under a night sky marked by a crescent moon and stars. The figures are rendered with the stylized anatomy and dense, swelling line work characteristic of the Haarlem Mannerist style.

Hendrick Goltzius was the preeminent printmaker of the Haarlem Mannerists, whose technical innovations were highly prized by the Hermetic-influenced court of Rudolf II in Prague. In this intellectual context, the theme of Judith was often interpreted as a moral allegory of virtue and humility overcoming pride and tyranny.