Arcadópolis
Violence. This work is shown blurred, as in the Museum.Show work
Judith and Her Maidservant
Artemisia Gentileschi, c. 1618–1619
What you see
The two women fill the canvas, close together and turned to the right. Judith, behind, rests a sword on her shoulder and lays her other hand on her maid’s shoulder. The maid, in front and seen almost from behind, wears a pale turban and holds against her hip a basket in which Holofernes’s head can be seen. Their profiles, one behind the other, point the same way.
The background is black, and light from the left falls on their faces, the white shirt and the maid’s yellow dress. Judith wears a dark gown with gold trim. Seek out the blue jewel in Judith’s hair, her pearl earring and the ornate hilt of the sword gleaming in her hand.
About Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Gentileschi learned to paint in Rome, in the studio of her father Orazio, a follower of Caravaggio, from whom she took the strong contrasts of light and shadow. In 1616 she became the first woman admitted to the Academy of the Arts of Drawing in Florence, and later worked in Venice, London and Naples for nobles and kings. She painted above all heroines from the Bible and history with uncommon force and resolve; after centuries of neglect, she is today one of the most admired painters of the Baroque.
More by Artemisia Gentileschi
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