Holofernes

The story of Judith slaying Holofernes is widely interpreted in many paintings. The story comes from the Book of Judith. Judith was a wealthy, young, and beautiful widow. She decided to travel to the Assyrian commander in chief, Holofernes, to seduce him into leaving Bethulia. She dressed in her finest clothes and jewelry and entered the Assyrian encampment. She charmed Holofernes over the next few days. Once she gained his trust she got him drunk. Before he could attempt any sexual advances she lopped off his head with a sword. With the help of her handmaiden, Abra, she brought Holofernes’ head back to town. Alarmed and terrified by Judith’s actions, the Assyrians fled. The Old Testament hero is often depicted in art post beheading with the sword and head of Holofernes in hand. Two paintings in particular, depict different scenes of Judith’s deed. Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes from 1614-20 captures the…

Michelangelo da Caravaggio’s painting Judith Beheading Holofernes examines goodness and purity in spite of engaging in the act of sinning. Painted in c.1598, using oil on canvas, this painting illustrates a scene from the biblical Book of Judith. It depicts three subjects in what appears to be a bed chamber. The middle subject, Judith is portrayed in the act of beheading the Assyrian commander, Holofernes while her maid looks on (fig. I). In this painting, Judith retains her status of purity and…

Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Beheading Holofernes is a depiction of the story of Judith from the Old Testament of the Bible and how she saved her city by seducing the invading army’s general, Holofernes, and then got him drunk and cut off his head with his own sword. Judith and her servant then snuck back to the town with the general’s head in a basket. The town displayed the prize the next day and the invading army retreated. The most striking visual elements of this piece are the use of the…

Judith Beheading Holofernes was painted in 1602, this painting of Judith beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio. Judith is a widow who charms the Assyrian general Holofernes first, then executes him at his camp. The painting was relived in 1950 and is now part of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica collection located in Rome. Recognizing real Caravaggios is a little more complicated because he has a strange place in the history of art. He was notorious and famous in the 17th century and he enthused…

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…

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…

In both Jael and Sisera and Judith Beheading Holofernes, the women appear in dominant positions over the men. However, the two women are presented very differently in the works. Both illustrate very similar Old Testament stories which involve some moral ambiguity surrounding the actions of the heroines. They offer commentary on the dubious nature of the murders in differing manners through their representations of the women, violence, bloodshed, and their settings. The engraving of Judith…

cut when she is speaking to the ancients. In this conversation she speaks and says that “For God will not threaten like man, nor be inflamed to anger like the son of man (Judith 8:15).” In this she is almost speaking out saying that their God would not get angry like they as men do. It is something to see the full thing that she has to say and just how she starts the conversation about her being the one to go and kill Holofernes. As I already pointed out in the paragraph about beauty where…

The Anglo-Saxon poem Judith, reveals to the reader a different kind of hero. One that uses her femininity as a weapon, to seduce Holofernes the Assyrian ruler and at the same time by cutting his head off and killing him, Judith uses a mannish side to defend her people and stop the enemies’ invasion. Judith’s combination of female and male hero, is a unique form of heroism. However, Judith attributes her victory against the Assyrians to God, a patriarchal figure, yet she is the character that…

choosing not to take action against the army of Holofernes, is therefore strongly contradictory to traditional teachings. However, I would argue that rather than indicating Judith is slightly impious, Judith’s declaration reflects a deeper understanding of the nature of divine will. Judith expresses that God will act through her, and that rather than perform a miracle, He will empower her to defeat Holofernes. Moreover, Judith is proven correct, as her actions are the salvation of the city of…