Unusually, Mantegna depicts Judith’s maidservant here as a person of colour. While the Bible makes no mention of the ethnicity of Judith’s accomplice, it identifies her position using the term abra, a Latin word meaning handmaiden. Mantegna’s choice of model here was influenced by his time as a court painter to the Gonzaga family in Mantua, a household known to have employed African servants and slaves, often as attendants to Isabella d'Este.
The maidservant’s centrality in this composition points to her key role in Judith’s quest. According to the biblical account, the two women worked together to defeat the invading general, Holofernes. It is thought that a member of the Gonzaga family may have commissioned this as part of a series depicting powerful women.
Exhibition of Italian Art 1200-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1930
Andrea Mantegna, Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, 1961
Centenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964
Old Masters and the Bible, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1965
Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Ireland, National Gallery, London, 1985
Andrea Mantegna, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 17 January - 5 April 1992
Master European Paintings from the National Gallery of Ireland, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 6 June - 9 August 1992; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, 19 September - 6 December 1992; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 13 January - 28 March 1993; IBM Gallery, New York, 27 April - 26 June 1993
Mantegna a Mantova 1460-1506: Mantegna and the Classical Tradition, Fruttiere Palazzo Te, Mantua, 16 September 2006 - 14 January 2007
Andrea Mantegna, 1431-1506, Musee du Louvre, Paris, 22 September 2008 - 5 January 2009
Shades of Grey: Painting without Colour, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 22 June - 29 September