The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth announced on August 29, 2025, that it will display Caravaggio’s monumental painting *Judith Beheading Holofernes* (1599–1600) as a Guest of Honor loan from the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica in Rome, where it normally hangs in the Palazzo Barberini. The canvas, approximately six feet wide and five feet tall, will be on view in the Louis I. Kahn Building from September 14, 2025, through January 11, 2026. The painting depicts the biblical moment of Judith decapitating the Assyrian general Holofernes, showcasing Caravaggio’s signature bold realism and dramatic chiaroscuro. The loan follows the museum’s 2022 Focus Exhibition “SLAY,” which featured Artemisia Gentileschi’s and Kehinde Wiley’s interpretations of the same subject.
This loan matters because it brings one of Caravaggio’s most celebrated masterpieces to the United States for a rare, extended viewing, allowing audiences to see it alongside the Kimbell’s own Caravaggio, *The Cardsharps* (c. 1596–97), as well as recent acquisitions by Artemisia Gentileschi and the Pensionante del Saraceni. The exhibition offers a unique opportunity to trace the revolutionary impact of Caravaggio’s naturalism on his contemporaries and followers. It also coincides with the major special exhibition “Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection,” creating a focused Roman art season at the Kimbell that deepens the museum’s dialogue between Baroque and ancient art.