Judith Slaying Holofernes | |
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Artist | Artemisia Gentileschi |
Year | c. 1620 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 6′ 6″ x 5′ 4″ |
Location | Uffizi, Florence |
Judith Slaying Holofernes c. 1620, now at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, [1] is the renowned painting by Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi depicting the assassination of Holofernes from the apocryphal Book of Judith. When compared to her earlier interpretation from Naples c. 1612, there are subtle but marked improvements to the composition and detailed elements of the work. These differences display the skill of a cultivated Baroque painter, with the adept use of chiaroscuro and realism to express the violent tension between Judith, Abra, and the dying Holofernes. [2]
Gentileschi centers her work on the labor of the killing, which forces the gaze to start amid the tangle of blood, limbs, and metal. Her ability to display brutal realism is shown particularly in the details, such as the arc of carotid blood that spatters across the frame. This scene displays the use of chiaroscuro, or the drastic contrast between light and dark, both literally and figuratively. [3]
Holofernes struggles in vain to press against Abra as the two women force him down with distinctly strong arms. [4] Their sleeves are rolled up, as though they are performing an unavoidable domestic chore, and their faces express a staunch resolve. Judith drives the sword, which is noticeably vertical and shaped in a way that alludes to a cross, into flesh with an exertive force. [4] Abra is depicted as almost a mirror to Judith, with a youthful appearance that departs from earlier portrayals of her character. [4] She holds firm to the left arm of their victim as he pushes against her breast in desperation. Holofernes, whose blood puddles and spurts a deep red to contrast the white sheets of his deathbed, is overpowered and without hope. [5] [6]
Her sandal ravished his eye,
Her beauty made captive his soul,
The sword passed through his neck.
— Book of Judith, 16:9 [7]
The Book of Judith is an apocryphal text that follows the triumph of Judith, a Jewish widow from Bethulia, in her assassination of the Assyrian General Holofernes. Bethulia was under siege and on the verge of surrender following the invasion of the Assyrian army. Unable to stand by while her people suffered, Judith set out to enact divine justice by killing their general, Holofernes, and ultimately dismantling the Assyrian forces. [8]
With a scheme to feign surrender, Judith adorned herself in finery to seduce Holofernes. Along with her handmaiden, Abra, the two women approached the enemy encampment with an act of deference that granted them entry. Holofernes quickly succumbed to Judith and invited her to a banquet in his private quarters soon after her arrival. [9]
Holofernes drank himself into a stupor on the night of the banquet while celebrating his perceived victory. Judith, who he had hoped to bed, used this as her opportunity to finish her task. With his sword, she beheads Holofernes in two fell blows. Judith and Abra then return to Bethulia with the severed head of the general in a sack, effectively ending the conflict. [10]
Baroque art came about during the Catholic Reformation (also known as the Counter-Reformation) in the 17th century. This was a period when Protestantism was rapidly gaining ground in Europe, as an alternative to Catholicism, which threatened the might of the Roman Catholic Church. This new theology fundamentally rejected the perceived worship of religious iconography on the grounds of idolatry, with the guidance of figures such as John Calvin and Martin Luther. [11] In response, the Council of Trent reaffirmed the importance of the visual arts for the Catholic faith. [11] Baroque art served as an extension of the influence of the Catholic Church, most often depicting historical and religious imagery through heightened realism.
Judith is a figure that has been both embraced and rejected by the Catholic and Protestant denominations through time. [4] Indeed, depending on the potential use of Judith within a Christian narrative, she is either a symbol of purity or temptation. [5] But during the Catholic Reformation Judith remained most often a symbol of divine virtue to contrast the heretical Holofernes. [6] [12]
Gentileschi was one of many artists who used Judith as a prominent and recurring subject throughout the Baroque period. In fact, Orazio Gentileschi, Artemisia Gentileschi's father, painted Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes c. 1610. Both artists assign the scene with a sense of urgency by choosing moments within the story that are filled with tension. [4]
This similarity in theme and composition may have been due to the work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, whose style so influenced the Gentileschi's. His famous depiction of Judith Beheading Holofernes from the late 16th century focused more on the conflict than previously seen. [4]
The Uffizi Judith was commissioned by Grand Duke Cosimo II de' Medici who was responsible for art patronage at the Medici court. [6] Presumably, Cosimo had seen the original Naples Judith and requested a variation to be made for his wife, Maria Magdalena. [12] The painting would ultimately be included in a larger collection of artworks at the Pitti Palace which portrayed biblical heroines. Gentileschi received 50 scudi as payment for her work. [6]
In the late 1700s, a Grand Duchess disapproved of the gruesome depiction of a usually timid scene, and had the painting moved to an isolated part of the Uffizi. [13] There it remained until the 20th century, when this painting, including many others, was damaged in the 1993 terrorist bombing of the Pitti Palace. [5] [13] Following its restoration, the painting was once again placed in a largely peripheral location within the gallery. Now, Gentileschi's most prominent piece shares space with other great Baroque artists, including Caravaggio. [13]
Artemisia Gentileschi was born in Rome in 1593 and was the only daughter of Mannerist painter Orazio Gentileschi and Prudentia Montone Gentileschi. Orazio took notice of Artemisia's potential as a painter at an early age and helped to cultivate it. By 1610 she had successfully produced Susanna and the Elders , which is known to be her first signed painting. [6] Shortly after her artistic debut, the painter Agostino Tassi, a colleague of Orazio who was hired to teach Artemisia linear perspective, raped the young Artemisia. A public trial was later brought forward and lasted through the summer of 1612. While under oath, and throughout torture by the Sibille, Artemisia avowed: “It’s true, it’s true, it’s true, everything that I said.” [4] Tassi was ultimately found guilty of the crime and temporarily banished from Rome.
This history is relevant as Gentileschi's early life has come to inform the perspectives of many contemporary feminist art historians, including Mary Garrard, [6] and particularly in the case of Judith Slaying Holofernes.
There exists a pattern of Gentileschi using her figure as a model in her work which has afforded the artist the innate ability to render the female form. Although this practice would not constitute every painting a self-portrait, there are those with that exact intention, including works such as the Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria from 1616 and the Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting , c. 1628. [6] The genre of self-portraiture had been made popular at this time by artists such as Caravaggio and Rembrandt. [3] [4]
That said, whether or not the various Judiths are allegorical self-portraits is a rather contentious subject. Gentileschi's violent depiction of the Judith theme is, according to Mary Garrard, [4] [6] most often made parallel to the traumatic events within her early life and is centered on gendered defiance. To the contrary, scholars such as Griselda Pollock and Elena Ciletti [5] push back against this perspective, arguing instead that the near-constant mention of her assault only succeeds in limiting Gentileschi's image.
Artemisia Lomi or Artemisia Gentileschi was an Italian Baroque painter. Gentileschi is considered among the most accomplished 17th-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing professional work by the age of 15. In an era when women had few opportunities to pursue artistic training or work as professional artists, Gentileschi was the first woman to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence and she had an international clientele.
Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (1563–1639) was an Italian painter. Born in Tuscany, he began his career in Rome, painting in a Mannerist style, much of his work consisting of painting the figures within the decorative schemes of other artists.
Judith Beheading Holofernes is a painting of the biblical episode by Caravaggio, painted in c. 1598–1599 or 1602, in which the widow Judith stayed with the Assyrian general Holofernes in his tent after a banquet then decapitated him after he passed out drunk. The painting was rediscovered in 1950 and is part of the collection of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Rome. The exhibition 'Dentro Caravaggio' Palazzo Reale, Milan, suggests a date of 1602 on account of the use of light underlying sketches not seen in Caravaggio's early work but characteristic of his later works. The exhibition catalogue also cites biographer artist Giovanni Baglione's account that the work was commissioned by Genoa banker Ottavio Costa.
The account of the beheading of Holofernes by Judith is given in the deuterocanonical Book 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.
Judith Slaying Holofernes is a painting by the Italian early Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi, completed in 1612-13 and now at the Museo Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. The picture is considered one of her iconic works. The canvas shows Judith beheading Holofernes. The subject takes an episode from the apocryphal Book of Judith in the Old Testament, which recounts the assassination of the Assyrian general Holofernes by the Israelite heroine Judith. The painting shows the moment when Judith, helped by her maidservant Abra, beheads the general after he has fallen asleep in a drunken stupor. She painted a second version now in the Uffizi, Florence, somewhere between 1613 and 1621.
Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, also known as Autoritratto in veste di Pittura or simply La Pittura, was painted by the Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. The oil-on-canvas painting measures 98.6 by 75.2 centimetres and was probably produced during Gentileschi's stay in England between 1638 and 1639. It was in the collection of Charles I and was returned to the Royal Collection at the Restoration (1660) and remains there. In 2015 it was put on display in the "Cumberland Gallery" in Hampton Court Palace.
Judith and Holofernes may refer to:
Susanna and the Elders is a 1610 painting by the Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi and is her earliest-known signed and dated work. It was one of Gentileschi's signature works. She painted several variations of the scene in her career. It currently hangs at Schloss Weißenstein in Pommersfelden, Germany. The work shows a frightened Susanna with two men lurking above her while she is in the bath. The subject matter comes from the deuterocanonical Book of Susanna in the Additions to Daniel. This was a popular scene to paint during the Baroque period.
Esther Before Ahasuerus is a painting by the 17th-century Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi. It shows the biblical heroine Esther going before Ahasuerus to beg him to spare her people. The painting is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, having been donated to the museum by Elinor Dorrance Ingersoll in 1969. It is one of Gentileschi's lesser known works, but her use of lighting, characterization, and style help in successfully portraying Esther as a biblical heroine as well as the main protagonist of the work.
Judith and her Maidservant is a c. 1615 painting by the Italian baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. The painting depicts Judith and her maidservant leaving the scene where they have just beheaded general Holofernes, whose head is in the basket carried by the maidservant. It hangs in the Pitti Palace, Florence.
This is an ongoing bibliography of work related to the Italian baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi.
Self-Portrait as a Lute Player is one of many self-portrait paintings made by the Italian baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. It was created between 1615 and 1617 for the Medici family in Florence. Today, it hangs in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut, US. It shows the artist posing as a lute player looking directly at the audience. The painting has symbolism in the headscarf and outfit that portray Gentileschi in a costume that resembles a Romani woman. Self-Portrait as a Lute Player has been interpreted as Gentileschi portraying herself as a knowledgeable musician, a self portrayal as a prostitute, and as a fictive expression of one aspect of her identity.
Judith and Her Maidservant is one of four paintings by the Italian baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi that depicts the biblical story of Judith and Holofernes. This particular work, executed in about 1623 to 1625, now hangs in the Detroit Institute of Arts. The narrative is taken from the deuterocanonical Book of Judith, in which Judith seduces and then murders the general Holofernes. This precise moment illustrates the maidservant Abra wrapping the severed head in a bag, moments after the murder, while Judith keeps watch. The other three paintings are now shown in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, and the Musée de la Castre in Cannes.
Self-Portrait as a Female Martyr, is also known as the Self-Portrait as a Martyr Saint. This painting was created by the Italian female artist, Artemisia Gentileschi. This self-portrait was made around 1615 depicting the artist herself as a martyr. It is one of two paintings by Gentileschi painted with oil on a wood panel. This self-portrait is currently in a private collection in the United States.
Penitent Magdalene is a 1616–1618 painting by the Italian baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. This painting hangs in the Pitti Palace in Florence. The subject is the biblical figure Mary Magdalene, but the painting references another biblical woman, Mary, the sister of Lazarus. This painting was likely painted during Gentileschi's Florentine period.
Saint Catherine of Alexandra is a painting by the Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. It is in the collection of the Uffizi, Florence. Gentileschi likely used the same cartoon or preparatory drawing to create both this painting and the Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria (1615–1617), now in the National Gallery, London.
Lucretia is a painting by the Italian baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. It depicts Lucretia, the wife of Roman consul and general Collatinus, at the moment of her suicide. The decision to take her own life was made after she was blackmailed and raped by Sextus Tarquinius, a fellow soldier of Collatinus. It is one of a number of paintings of Gentileschi that focus on virtuous women ill-treated by men.
The Self Portrait of Italian baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi was painted in the early 1630s. It currently hangs in the Palazzo Barberini, Rome. It is one of many paintings where Gentileschi depicts herself. Beyond self-portraits, her allegorical and religious paintings often featured herself in different guises.
The Birth of Saint John the Baptist, by Artemisia Gentileschi, was part of a six-painting portrayal of Saint John's life, with four of the paintings by Massimo Stanzione and one by Paolo Finoglia, for the Hermitage of San Juan Bautista on the grounds of Buen Rierto in Madrid, under orders from the Viceroy of Naples, the Conde de Monterrey. Although a date has not been agreed upon by scholars, Artemesia most likely painted The Birth of Saint John the Baptist between 1633 and 1635. It is one of the most renowned works from Artemisia's Naples period, especially due to its detailed rendering of fabrics and floor tiles.
Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes is a painting by the Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi, created in 1639-1640. It was one of many paintings by Gentileschi that treats the theme of Judith, who beheads the Assyrian general Holofernes, who was planning to destroy Judith's home city of Bethulia.