Caravaggio's Judith Beheading Holofernes

The Kimbell welcomes Caravaggio’s monumental canvas Judith Beheading Holofernes, on loan from the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome.

Soon after moving to Rome around 1595, Caravaggio (1571–1610) won the attention of the city’s elite and his fellow artists. Painted directly from live models with strong contrasts of light, his dramatic and innovative pictures—like the Kimbell’s iconic Cardsharps (c. 1596–97)—were widely imitated. Caravaggio’s earliest known historical painting, Judith Beheading Holofernes narrates a passage from the Book of Judith in the Old Testament Apocrypha. 

This painting, which ranks among the artist’s most groundbreaking masterpieces for its bold realism and the theatrical staging of its biblical subject, will be on view in the Kimbell Museum, the Kahn Building, 3333 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107 from September 14, 2025 through January 11, 2026.

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