This painting is one of many versions of the biblical story of Judith beheading Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi, a well-known female painter of the Baroque period. Although she gained acclaim as a painter, few women of her time had the opportunity to become an artist, a privilege afforded to her in part because her father owned a studio and painted, as well. In the Bible, Holofernes, an Assyrian bully and enemy to Israel, slaughtered his way into the city of Bethulia, a town at the entrance to Israel and Judith’s home. She seduces her way into Holofernes’s bed, gets him drunk, and beheaded him with the assistance of her maid, Abra (Branch, 2012). However, in Gentileschi’s rendition, she brings attention to the strength of women. especially
…show more content…
The two women are also both upright, emphasizing the control they both assert over Holofernes, who lays horizontal and powerless as a contrast against the other two.
The artist uses proximity, or lack thereof, to emphasize the concept of good versus evil in the story of Judith slaying Holofernes in the Bible. Gentileschi creates distance between Holofernes and the women, keeping them at arms’-length, because she embodies good through her deed of protecting Jerusalem from the Assyrians; God clearly approves the murder when she is praised “by the Most High God above all other women on earth” when she reveals the severed head of Holofernes once she returns to the gates of Bethulia (Branch, 2012).
The continuation of the color red helps to create movement and balance in Gentileschi’s painting. The red encourages the viewer’s eyes to dance back and forth between the three characters in the scene. It also reinforces the triangular composition between Holofernes’s throw, the red trim on Judith’s dress, and ultimately directing attention to the dripping blood flowing from his neck. The lines that continue from the forms of the three characters direct the eye to converge in the center of the painting, underscoring the subject of the work: Holofernes’s violent
The two women are also both upright, emphasizing the control they both assert over Holofernes, who lays horizontal and powerless as a contrast against the other two.
The artist uses proximity, or lack thereof, to emphasize the concept of good versus evil in the story of Judith slaying Holofernes in the Bible. Gentileschi creates distance between Holofernes and the women, keeping them at arms’-length, because she embodies good through her deed of protecting Jerusalem from the Assyrians; God clearly approves the murder when she is praised “by the Most High God above all other women on earth” when she reveals the severed head of Holofernes once she returns to the gates of Bethulia (Branch, 2012).
The continuation of the color red helps to create movement and balance in Gentileschi’s painting. The red encourages the viewer’s eyes to dance back and forth between the three characters in the scene. It also reinforces the triangular composition between Holofernes’s throw, the red trim on Judith’s dress, and ultimately directing attention to the dripping blood flowing from his neck. The lines that continue from the forms of the three characters direct the eye to converge in the center of the painting, underscoring the subject of the work: Holofernes’s violent