Ceiling panel from Dean House, Edinburgh

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This panel is one of a series which made up a painted ceiling in the great hall at Dean House in Edinburgh. Seven panels have survived from the ceiling which was painted between 1605 and 1627.

This panel depicts a biblical scene featuring Judith with the head of the Assyrian general Holofernes. Bethulia is the city or town where Judith made her home.

The Book of Judith is included in the Apocrypha in the Bible. Judith was a popular image in medieval times and was seen as representative of purity and moral righteousness. Dean House, with its crowstepped gable, was built in 1614 for the Nisbets of Dean. William Nisbet of Dean, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, was knighted by James VI in 1617. The house was used as a romantic setting for James Ballantyne's novel Miller of Deanhaugh.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-000-626-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  H.KL 71
• Date: 1605 - 1627
  Between 1605 and 1627
  
• Material: Wood, painted
  Panel, ceiling
  
• Dimensions: 1370 mm H x 1130 mm W x 40 mm Th
  
• What: Panel, ceiling
  
• Subject: Carved woodwork, painted ceilings (NMAS Classification)
  
• Who: C.K. Sharpe Collection
  
• Where: Scotland, Midlothian, Edinburgh, Dean House
  
• Event:
• Description: One of seven painted ceiling panels from Dean House, Edinburgh, showing Judith with the head of Holofernes, painted between 1605 and 1627
  
• References:
• Translations:
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