Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Turner Bequest
Oil paintings
Collection
Turner owned by Tate
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/joseph-mallord-william-turner-558" aria-label="More by Joseph Mallord William Turner" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Joseph Mallord William Turner</a>
Procuress  Judith with Head Holofernes
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
actions: expressive
adults
animals: features
Bible: Old Testament
clothing and personal items
dagger / knife
décolletage
feather
Judith
Judith, Book of
objects
people
pointing
prostitution
religion and belief
sex and relationships
society
urn
vessels and containers
weapons
woman
woman, old
painting oil paint canvas
The Procuress; (?) Judith with the Head of Holofernes
support: 1241 × 914 mm
frame: 1430 × 1130 × 90 mm
Accepted by the nation as part of the <a href="/search?gid=999999781" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Turner Bequest</a> 1856
<p>152. [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-the-procuress-judith-with-the-head-of-holofernes-n05500" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05500</span></a>] <b>The Procuress</b>? <i>c.</i> 1805?
<br/>
<br/>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (5500)
<br/>Canvas, 47 7/4 × 36 (121·5 × 91·5)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1947.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Davies 1946, p. 161; Ziff 1980, p. 169.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Possibly developed from the sketch in black and white chalks in the ‘Calais Pier’ sketchbook, LXXXI-41, where, however, the figure to the left and behind the young woman appears to be male and bearded, though this is not altogether certain (Finberg 1909, p. 215, entitled the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> ‘Study for Joseph and Mary (?)’; repr. in colour Wilkinson 1974, p. 59). Martin Davies identified the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> as representing ‘Death before Dishonour’. The present title, derived from seventeenth-century Dutch prototypes, is due to Lawrence Gowing.
<br/>
<br/>At all events this unfinished oil, painted in a generally Titianesque manner, is probably fairly early, deriving from Turner's experience of Titian at the Louvre in 1802, rather than from the period of such figure paintings of comparable scale as No. 448 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-two-women-with-a-letter-n05501" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05501</span></a>]. On the other hand, it could have resulted from Turner's renewed interest in Titian during his Italian journey of 1828–9; <i>c.f.</i> Nos. 293 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-vision-of-medea-n00513" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00513</span></a>] and 296 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-reclining-venus-n05498" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05498</span></a>]. Jerrold Ziff, in his review of the first edition of this catalogue, supports the earlier dating of <i>c.</i> 1803–5 for both Nos. 152 [<span>N05500</span>] and 153 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-the-rest-on-the-flight-into-egypt-n05497" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05497</span></a>].
<br/>
<br/>The back of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a> is covered with a normal ground and it seems that the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> was painted on what would normally be the unprimed reverse, the oil <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/medium" title="Glossary definition for 'Medium'"><span>medium</span></a> having impregnated the canvas in many areas.</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, <i>The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner</i>, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-07T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: expressive adults animals: features Bible: Old Testament clothing and personal items dagger / knife décolletage feather Judith Judith, Book of objects people pointing prostitution religion and belief sex and relationships society urn vessels and containers weapons woman woman, old