A moment shown as if in flashlight was a recurrent device in Neapolitan painting. Judging from her half-open mouth and stooping posture, the Biblical heroine Judith is exhausted (or possibly ecstatic) after having severed the head of the general Holofernes, which she just has placed beside her. The sword is partly hidden in the folds of her garment. On its grip Bernardo Cavallino has signed the painting with his initials.