JEAN FRANCOIS COURTOIS
Saint Hippolyte, 1627 – information until 1673
Judith with the head of Holofernes
oil on canvas, cm 129×95
This pair of canvases feature a heroine from the Old Testament, Judith, and Maria Magdalene, one of the saints who has been portrayed most frequently in the history of painting. The former is shown, sword in hand, before an elaborate marble table, on which lies the head of the Assyrian general Holofernes, which she has just cut. The latter is painted as she contemplates the Crucifix with an expression of beatitude.
It is to Emilio Negro that we owe the suggestion to attribute these paintings, characterized by a “robust, solid and colourful painting style” to Jean François Courtois, brother of the famous battle painter known with the nickname of Borgognone and of Jacques Courtois.
Jean François came to Rome with his two brothers in 1639. Twenty years later he retired to the convent of Palanzana, where he took the name of Giovani Antonio da Sant’Ippolito. Among the works by this painter referred to by expert we may mention ‘Saint Paul who is preaching at Ephesus’ at the Nazarene College in Rome, a large canvas which has recently been attributed to him.