Sir,
Michelangelo Merisi was born in September 1571 in Caravaggio, near Milan and was always known by the name of his hometown. Caravaggio moved to Rome in the early 1590s. His paintings were characterized by their extreme realism and dramatic contrasts of light and shade. Several works were realized as religious works commissioned by important exponents of clergy (BBC, 2017).
In this group of works should be included the two paintings about Judith and Holofernes, adapted from the Book of Judith. The Book of Judith is one of the three books in the Septuagint, and later Bibles, named for a woman: Judith, Esther, and Ruth. There is also one story named for a woman, the Story of Susanna, found in an addition to the Book of Daniel. Of the four women – Esther, Ruth, Susanna, and Judith – Judith is by far the most autonomous, politically engaged, and spiritually accomplished (Kevin et al., 2010).
The Book of Judith is the story of a Jewish heroine living during the period of the Second Temple when the Jewish community had returned from the Babylonian captivity and reestablished temple worship in Jerusalem. The story is famous for Judith’s pursuit and beheading of the King’s general, Holofernes (Kevin et al., 2010).
In 1599 Caravaggio painted the first “Judith Beheading Holofernes” (Fig. 1), an impressive canvas that tells the Biblical story of Judith, who saved her people by seducing and beheading the Assyrian general Holofernes, which was a common theme in the 16th century (Carvaggio.org, 2017).
“Judith Beheading Holofernes” (1599). (Available from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10774618)
On April 2014 in the attic of a country house, not far from Toulouse, was found a lost painting, (Fig. 2). Afterwards, Eric Turquin’s expert team analyzed the picture: without any doubt, the work is authentic. It represents Judith and Holofernes, and is similar to the previous canvas of Caravaggio, exhibited at the National Gallery of Ancient Art of Rome (Palazzo Barberini).
The painting found in Toulouse. (Available from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48144144)
In this picture, however, the woman, who eliminates the threat of an Assyrian invasion of the Holy Land by decapitating the enemy general, is dressed in black (and not white as in the already known picture) and has a disturbing frontal look. According to French experts, the newly discovered painting dates back to 1604–1605, while the one already known was made in 1599 (Il Secolo XIX, 2017).
A previous study about the medical aspects of these painting has been realized: Perciaccante et al. analyzed a specific anatomical feature – the arterial spurt of blood – and showed a modification in its pictorial representation between the end of the 16th century and beginning of the 17th century. They speculated that the change in trajectory of the arterial spurt of blood from rectilinear to parabolic can be linked to the acquisition of new scientific knowledge (Perciaccante et al., 2016).
We decided to integrate the information given by these authors through a medico-legal evaluation of the two paintings.