Arcadópolis
Violence. This work is shown blurred, as in the Museum.Show work
Judith Beheading Holofernes
Artemisia Gentileschi, c. 1620
What you see
Three figures lock together at the center of the picture. Holofernes, lying on his back on the bed, tries to push away the maid, who presses down on him from above. Judith, on the right, in a golden dress with her sleeves rolled up, pins him with one hand and grips the sword with the other. Their arms cross into a knot that pulls the eye to the center.
Light falls from the left on the white sheets, the arms and the two women’s concentrated faces; everything else is darkness. The deep red of the bedspread and the gold of the dress warm the scene. Look at Judith’s bracelet, set with small oval medallions, and at the furrowed brows of both women.
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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