Judith slaying holofernes meaning

• Judith Beheading Holofernes

Location

D Caravaggio and Artemisia

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Masterpiece Story: Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi

Artemisia Gentileschi (–) was the most accomplished female painter of the Italian Baroque. She specialized in Biblical scenes of strong women fulfilling their higher destinies. Her most famous painting, Judith Slaying Holofernes, not only captures the drama and intensity of the subject, but also depicts the determination and strength of a feminist heroine. Let us explore a Gentileschi masterpiece. Let us explore a Baroque bloodbath.

Italian Baroque Art

When Artemisia Gentileschi painted Judith Slaying Holofernes in , Italy was in the grips of the Counter Reformation. The Catholic Church had lost huge masses of followers to the Protestant faiths in the last century, and it needed to initiate damage control and regain lost followers. How was the Catholic Church going to achieve its goals?

It used art as a tool to teach, to inspire, and to convert. Baroque art was not only decorative, but it was also propaganda. It included images of good conquering evil, of virtue dominating vice, of Christian and Jewish heroes vanquishing heathens. Paintings needed theatricality, motion, and drama to wow the senses and inspire viewers with religious feelings.

Baroque art was both energetic and extravagant, and Ar

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Judith beheading Holofernes

Biblical episode and artistic theme

For other uses, see Judith and Holofernes.

The account of the beheading of Holofernes by Judith is given in the deuterocanonicalBook of Judith, and is the subject of many paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In the story, Judith, a beautiful widow, is able to enter the tent of Holofernes because of his desire for her. Holofernes was an Assyrian general who was about to destroy Judith's home, the city of Bethulia. Overcome with drink, he passes out and is decapitated by Judith; his head is taken away in a basket (often depicted as being carried by an elderly female servant).

Artists have mainly chosen one of two possible scenes (with or without the servant): the decapitation, with Holofernes supine on the bed, or the heroine holding or carrying the head, often assisted by her maid.

In European art, Judith is very often accompanied by her maid at her shoulder, which helps to distinguish her from Salome, who also carries her victim's head on a silver charger (plate). However, a Northern tradition developed whereby Judith had both a maid and a charger, taken by Erwin Panofsky as an example of the knowledge needed in the study of iconography.^[1] For many artists and