Judith (Devotion, Courage)

A hand-colored engraving from a French heroic playing card series depicting the biblical figure Judith. She stands in classical drapery, holding aloft the severed head of Holofernes while gripping a sword. Gold ornamental borders frame the composition, with spade suit emblems and decorative tassels. The inscription identifies her virtues as devotion and courage. These nineteenth-century French card sets—featuring historical, biblical, and allegorical figures—represented a popular educational format that combined portraiture with moral instruction. The series demonstrates how playing cards functioned as accessible vehicles for narrative imagery before becoming foundational to modern sequential art.