Float mounted and framed, this painting was part of ‘Incarnation, Mary and Women from the Bible’, Chris Gollon’s national touring exhibition to English cathedrals.

As recounted in the Book of Judith in the Bible, Judith, a beautiful Jewish widow, enters the tent of Assyrian general Holofernes under the guise of seduction, as he was preparing to destroy Judith’s home, the city of Bethulia. He passes out intoxicated and is decapitated by Judith. It is an image of female bravery, in which Chris Gollon cast himself as Holofernes,  his head being cut off, having fallen for Judith’s charms.