In the manner of Caravaggio
Italian, 1571–1610
Judith at the Cash Machine, 2026
Oil on canvas
180 × 144 cm
Never painted.
Commissioned for the collection, 2026.
PAB 2026.2.5
Her card is in the machine and her head has snapped round over her shoulder, towards whatever made that sound in the wet street. The screen lights one side of her face, a streetlamp the other. Caravaggio painted Judith in the middle of the deed, frowning as if at a chore. This one has not done anything yet. The figure far down the street should probably take another route.
The brief
A woman in an evening coat at a street cash machine at night, lit hard by the screen and one streetlight, glancing sharply over her shoulder, wet black street behind. Italian Baroque oil painting, extreme chiaroscuro with a single hard light source cutting figures out of near-total darkness, life-size figures pressed close to the picture plane, dirty feet and real faces, deep blacks, warm flesh tones, blood red and dull gold, dramatic diagonal composition, thick glossy oil surface. Museum photograph of the oil painting, dramatic but even gallery lighting, no frame, no text, no wall, no floor, cropped to the canvas edge.
Written to the house rules. The painter's name does not appear.
Take it home
The painting on this room's wall, at its own proportions, nothing written on it.
