The account of the beheading of Holofernes by Judith is given in the deuterocanonical Book of Judith, and is the subject of more than 114 paintings and sculptures. 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, though the story is emphatic that no "defilement" takes place. Overcome with drink, he passes out and is decapitated by Judith; his head is taken away in a basket (often depicted as carried by an elderly female servant).Text and images from Wikipedia.
Early Renaissance images of Judith tend to depict her as fully dressed and desexualized; besides Donatello's sculpture, this is the Judith seen in Sandro Botticelli's The Return of Judith to Bethulia (1470-1472), Andrea Mantegna's Judith and Holofernes (1495, with a detached head), and in the corner of Michelangelo's Sistine chapel (1508-1512). Later Renaissance artists, notably Lucas Cranach the Elder, who with his workshop painted at least eight Judiths, showed a more sexualized Judith, a "seducer-assassin"...
Judith remained popular in the Baroque period, but around 1600 images of Judith began to take on a more violent character, "and Judith became a threatening character to artist and viewer [the top embed is a Caravaggio]...
Modern paintings of the scene often cast Judith nude, as was signalled already by Klimt. Franz Stuck's 1928 Judith [right] has "the deliverer of her people" standing naked and holding a sword besides the couch on which Holofernes, half-covered by blue sheets—where the text portrays her as god-fearing and chaste, "Franz von Stuck's Judith becomes, in dazzling nudity, the epitome of depraved seduction".
Reposted from 2014 to add some information about tomato sauces:
Middle Earth Organics opted for a traditional look in their labels by incorporating images of women from classic works of art. The first is obviously from Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. (Since she is arising from a scallop shell, wouldn't her image be more appropriate on a vongole rather than a tomato-based one?)
Don't know the second. DaVinci's Lady with an Ermine is the third. But it's the fourth one that has stirred up the most amusement on the internet. The lady is Judith, and she is in the process of beheading Holofernes, in the image embedded at the top of this post. The association with tomato sauce was unintentional, and striking.
On a flying visit to the Louvre almost 20 years ago, I must have seen more than a dozen paintings by different artists on this subject--one of which I was totally ignorant. Fascinating story, though it seems to have largely fallen out of current classical references.
ReplyDeleteI love how innocent and "mustn't get blood on my white shirt" the first picture is, like she's reluctantly being egged on by the old woman, versus the other more knowing and sexual portrayals.
ReplyDeleteThe Artemisia Gentileschi Judith is my favorite. Looks like she could actually have done the deed.
ReplyDeleteI may just be a daft aeroengine engineer, but I recognise the second one - Donna velata
ReplyDelete(Veiled woman) - Raffaello Sanzio Raphael. 1483 or thereabouts. Pastatastic.
Judith in story and art: https://www.mutualart.com/Article/Head-of-the-Curve--Judith-and-Holofernes/B50D8B4E2644B184 Head of the Curve: Judith and Holofernes Through History
ReplyDeleteIf I remember right, Botticelli's Venus stands on a scallop shell, not a clamshell.
ReplyDeleteText amended. Thank you.
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