A Baroque genius whose paintings changed art forever, one of the greatest master painters of all time! Judith Beheading Holofernes is a painting of the biblical episode by Caravaggio, painted in c. 1598–1599 or 1602, in which the widow Judith stayed with the Assyrian general Holofernes in his tent after a banquet then decapitated him after he passed out drunk. The painting was rediscovered in 1950 and is part of the collection of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Rome. The exhibition 'Dentro Caravaggio' Palazzo Reale, Milan (Sept 2017-Jan 2018), suggests a date of 1602 on account of the use of light underlying sketches not seen in Caravaggio's early work but characteristic of his later works. The exhibition catalogue (Skira, 2018, p88) also cites biographer artist Giovanni Baglione's account that the work was commissioned by Genoa banker Ottavio Costa. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an extremely violent painter. His life was full of fights, brawls and scandals. Constantly arrested, imprisoned, wanted by the authorities and even accused of murder, he was at the same time a genius whose painting dominated the art of the Baroque and left its mark on later eras. Although Caravaggio's paintings were rejected after his death due to his unprecedented harsh chiaroscuro, a dark background filling the painting, he was eventually recognised as one of the founding fathers of modern painting. His work greatly influenced many future masters, from Rubens to Diego Velazquez to Rembrandt.