Artemisia Gentileschi piece titled Judith decapitating Holofernes (C. 1620), is a 6’63/8’’x 5’34/3’’ painting displayed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Gentileschi’s sensational painting, oil on a canvas which gives a chill at its glance portrays Virtue and Violence, a symbolic justice for a powerful female protagonist and other victims. Artemisia Gentileschi uses value, color, line and emphasis to capture the horrific scene and an evocative interpretation to vividly draw viewer’s attention and arouse emotions.Gentileschi in this painting uses high contrast of value in light and dark to portray the effect of dramatization of brutality. The light source not known seems to be emerging from the right with its high value, brightly portrays
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The highlights on all five arms create a sense of lunging and dynamic movement, Judith’s arms drives attention to the main focal point where Holofernes is struck, the maid’s contribution as an accomplice and of course Holofernes muscle fist in the maid's face demonstrates a great deal of struggle to survive. Gentileschi in a harmonious sense uses values of highlight to draw distinctions from the major center of attraction to the less focused object in the painting. The contrast to the light values on all three figures separate them from the very dark background.
Universally, color in general has a symbolic meaning, the artist in this painting uses a black background to imply terror, evil, mystery, and death. The black background also portrays fear, negative connotations giving a perspective in depth and diminishing readability .The rich vibrant color of Judith’s clothes; yellow symbolizes gold and nobility, also an impression of wealth, elegance and beauty, where as the low hue in the maids clothing make her inferior. The artist choice of color gives the painting a lively modern look instead of traditional low tone colors which represents dullness. The red and white covering of Holofernes serves to accumulate antipathy and barbaric scene which deploys doom. Also the red color …show more content…
The low hue of brown covers drawn to Judith’s side along with her brown hair implies stability and donates masculine qualities. Judith standing to the right of the composition gives her strength and firm grasps of Holofernes hair and weapon. Through the use of color the artist created a symbol of boldness and strength for Judith. Though the red here suggest danger, war and intense, it also stimulates viewer’s emotions to make a decision. The solid dark background creates unity; hence other colors are used together in some places and separate in other places to create the shapes in this painting. The consistency of diagonal lines in the structures of all figures shows movement, especially the strong diagonal lines on Judith’s arms emphasis clearly the pressure and tension on the weapon as she decapitate Holofernes. We could still see more movement with the eyes and much attention drawn to the main focal point where the saga unfolds. The implied liens outlining Judith’s hair give shape to her hair. The contour lines on Holefernes fore head create an expression of emotion. Gentileschi’s uses of directional lines and contrasting
The highlights on all five arms create a sense of lunging and dynamic movement, Judith’s arms drives attention to the main focal point where Holofernes is struck, the maid’s contribution as an accomplice and of course Holofernes muscle fist in the maid's face demonstrates a great deal of struggle to survive. Gentileschi in a harmonious sense uses values of highlight to draw distinctions from the major center of attraction to the less focused object in the painting. The contrast to the light values on all three figures separate them from the very dark background.
Universally, color in general has a symbolic meaning, the artist in this painting uses a black background to imply terror, evil, mystery, and death. The black background also portrays fear, negative connotations giving a perspective in depth and diminishing readability .The rich vibrant color of Judith’s clothes; yellow symbolizes gold and nobility, also an impression of wealth, elegance and beauty, where as the low hue in the maids clothing make her inferior. The artist choice of color gives the painting a lively modern look instead of traditional low tone colors which represents dullness. The red and white covering of Holofernes serves to accumulate antipathy and barbaric scene which deploys doom. Also the red color …show more content…
The low hue of brown covers drawn to Judith’s side along with her brown hair implies stability and donates masculine qualities. Judith standing to the right of the composition gives her strength and firm grasps of Holofernes hair and weapon. Through the use of color the artist created a symbol of boldness and strength for Judith. Though the red here suggest danger, war and intense, it also stimulates viewer’s emotions to make a decision. The solid dark background creates unity; hence other colors are used together in some places and separate in other places to create the shapes in this painting. The consistency of diagonal lines in the structures of all figures shows movement, especially the strong diagonal lines on Judith’s arms emphasis clearly the pressure and tension on the weapon as she decapitate Holofernes. We could still see more movement with the eyes and much attention drawn to the main focal point where the saga unfolds. The implied liens outlining Judith’s hair give shape to her hair. The contour lines on Holefernes fore head create an expression of emotion. Gentileschi’s uses of directional lines and contrasting