Annibale Carracci was one of the founders of the Bologna academy and the pioneer of a new style that came to be known as "Classicism". The masters of the academy were the first in the history of European art to create a neat system for the training of painters, including the studies from life and the use of the artistic techniques of Antiquity and the High Renaissance. The Holy Women is one of the artist's best paintings. The subject is inspired by the account in St Mark's Gospel (16: 1-6). After the Sabbath, three women went to Christ's tomb to anoint the body. They found an empty tomb and an angel who told them of the Saviour's Resurrection. The precise composition, local colours, faces devoid of individual characteristics, expressive gestures and "ancient" clothing represent the arsenal of devices employed by an academic artist whose main task was the rational conceptualization of the ancient ideal.
The painting was acquired in 1836 from Baron Coesvelt's collection in London.