Judith and Holofernes (Donatello)

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Judith and Holofernes (1457–1464) is a bronze sculpture created by the Italian Renaissance sculptor Donatello towards the end of his life and career. It is located in the Hall of Lilies (Sala dei Gigli), in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy. A copy stands in one of the sculpture's original positions on the Piazza della Signoria, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. It depicts the assassination of the Assyrian general Holofernes by Judith, and is remarkable for being one of the first Renaissance sculptures to be conceived in the round as a free-standing statue, with its four distinct faces. The subject of Judith beheading Holofernes, depicting the climax of the story in the deuterocanonical Book of Judith, was a common subject in art, and is associated with the Power of Women topos.

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