Judith Beheading Holofernes (Caravaggio)
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| Judith Beheading Holofernes |
| Caravaggio, 1598-1599 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 145 × 195 cm |
| Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome |
Judith Beheading Holofernes (Judith and Holophernes), completed in 1599, is an early religious painting by the Italian painter Caravaggio. It is housed in the gallery of Palazzo Barberini, in Rome.
A whole book in some versions of the Bible is devoted to Judith, because as a woman she embodies the power of the people of Israel to defeat the enemy, though superior in numbers, by means of cunning and courage. She seeks out Holofernes in his tent, makes him drunk, then beheads him. The sight of their commander's bloodstained head on the battlements of Bethulia puts the enemy to flight.
In the painting, Judith comes in with her maid - surprisingly and menacingly - from the right, against the direction of reading the picture. The general is lying naked on a white sheet. Paradoxically, his bed is distinguished by a magnificent red curtain, whose colour crowns the act of murder as well as the heroine's triumph.
The first instance in which Caravaggio would chose such a highly dramatic subject, the Judith is an expression of an allegorical-moral contest in which Virtue overcomes Evil. In contrast to the elegant and distant beauty of the vexed Judith, the ferocity of the scene is concentrated in the inhuman scream and the body spasm of the giant Holofernes. Caravaggio has managed to render, with exceptional efficacy, the most dreaded moment in a man's life: the passage from life to death. The upturned eyes of Holofernes indicate that he is not alive any more, yet signs of life still persist in the screaming mouth, the contracting body and the hand that still grips at the bed. The original bare breasts of Judith, which suggest that she has just left the bed, were later covered by the semi-transparent blouse.
The roughness of the details and the realistic precision with which the horrific decapitation is rendered (correct down to the tiniest details of anatomy and physiology) has led to the hypothesis that the painting was inspired by two highly publicized contemporary Roman executions; that of Giordano Bruno and above all of Beatrice Cenci in 1599.
The model for Judith is Fillide Melandroni, a well-known courtesan of the day, whom Caravaggio used for several other paintings from around this time, notably Saint Catherine and Martha and Mary Magdalene.
Caravaggio's depiction of the servant woman was inspired by the Leonardo da Vinci drawing, Study for a Caricature.
[edit] Other paintings
The beheading of Holofernes by Judith was a subject for several works of art by such names as Donatello, Sandro Botticelli, Andrea Mantegna, Giorgione, and Lucas Cranach the Elder, among many. Caravaggio's approach deeply influenced Artemisia Gentileschi, who subsequently painted at least two versions of her own.
Gustav Klimt also painted a Judith holding the head of Holofernes in his famous gilt-laden style.
