Analysis of ‘Judith Beheading Holofernes’ Painting PDF

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Analysis of ‘Judith Beheading Holofernes’ Painting...

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Surname 1 Name: Terry Lo Ho Pan SID: 11320883 Class: 01E Word Count: 1200 Analysis of ‘Judith Beheading Holofernes’ Painting Introduction ‘Judith beheading Holofernes’ is a Baroque piece of art that was oil painted on a canvas by Artemisia Gentileschi and is actually considered as one of her most famous piece of art work. The first painting of Judith beheading Holofernes was done in 1610 when Artemisia was seventeen years old. Later Gentileschi did some other painting piece of the same when she moved to Florence (Garner, 182). This piece of painting is among the series of pieces of Baroque art that Gentileschi did on Judith during the baroque period. The painting of ‘Judith beheading Holofernes’ is basically from a story in the Bible in the book of Judith in the old testament. It is a depiction of the assassination of Holofernes, an Assyrian General by Judith an Israelite woman. The theme of the painting is majorly related to that of the power of a woman. Gentileschi uses the Baroque dramatic style to paint the realism of the episode where Judith slays Holofernes (Philpot, 90). The painting is so physical from the very evident blood that spurts and flows on the bed linen that Holofernes lies on to the energy which the women put in as they struggle to behead him. The struggle of the two women is represented by the maid’s face that is grasped by the very muscular fist of the man and the rolled up sleeves of Judith that reveal her strength as she presses Holofernes’ head down with a large sword on the other hand to behead him. The light directly shines on the part of the dramatic act of slaying.

Surname 2 A picture of ‘Judith beheading Holofernes’ painting

How Historical Context relates and affected Creation of the Painting The historical context of a time often a times affect a lot of things in the period. Artwork is mostly affected by the historical context of the time of their composition and creation. Paintings, just like another artwork, are greatly affected by the historical context. Judith beheading Holofernes painting by Artemisia Gentileschi relates and was affected by the historical context of baroque period. The baroque period is majorly related to the Catholic Church activities that included reformations and counter-reformations in accordance the war between the Protestants and the

Surname 3 Catholics. The Catholic Church had additional books to other books in the bible that the Protestants did not acknowledge or rather did not read. The books were called canonical books. Judith was one of the deuterocanonical books of the Catholic Church. The strong catholic background in the baroque era is what made the art in that time to be based on the stories of the Bible. ‘Judith beheading Holofernes’ is one among many other paintings that based their stories from the Bible (Stone, 50). Most specifically the deuterocanonical books of the Bible that were read by Catholics are what the baroque artists’ derived inspiration from for their pieces of work. The religious historical context of the era being in deep region link with the Catholic Church most probably has a relation to ‘Judith beheads Holofernes’ painting by Artemisia Gentileschi. The story in the painting is from the deuterocanonical book of Judith in the old testament of the Catholic Church Bible. The personal historical context of Artemisia Gentileschi definitely related to and affected the art work of her paintings. Artemisia Gentileschi was a daughter to the artist Orazio. Orazio was a friend and artistic follower of Caravaggio who was an incredible painting artist in the baroque period. Caravaggio had previously done a painting based on the same biblical story of Judith slaying Holofernes (Slap, 340). For that matter, Gentileschi was definitely very familiar with Caravaggio’s work on the same subject. From a comparison of Caravaggio’s work on ‘Judith Slaying Holofernes’, and Gentileschi, is it seen that Gentileschi has actually done a great improvement from the older piece of Caravaggio. This is an implication that Artemisia Gentileschi was inspired and definitely challenged with Caravaggio’s artwork of painting. From such a challenge is that Artemisia Gentileschi’s ‘Judith beheads Holofernes’ is bloodier, more vivid and very dramatic. The picture below shows both Caravaggio’s and Gentileschi’s paintings

Surname 4 in comparison. Caravaggio’s is on the left while that of Gentileschi is on the right (Christiansen et al 320).

How Cultural Context related and affected Creation of the Painting The culture context of an era also affects and has a relation to the creation of a piece of art. ‘Judith beheads Holofernes’ painting by Artemisia Gentileschi was also affected by the cultural context of baroque era. In the period of the years 1600 to 1750 and even a while before and after that, it was to the culture of the people that the man is always superior and that he can do things that a woman cannot (Dockray, 166). The culture in that period dictated that when a man defiled a woman, it was right for him to marry the woman. Artemisia had been raped by his father’s friend Tassi, an artist at the age of seventeen and the man refused to marry her. On being taken to court for trial, Agostino Tassi was not rightfully judged but let free after serving jail for only 12 months. The woman did not have a voice in the society and there is nothing she could do about that. Artemisia ultimately portrays the situation of the society in the painting ‘Judith beheads Holofernes’. She identified with the episode and definitely wanted to give the woman character in the society the woman power that was desperately needed in that time. The experience that she

Surname 5 had in that time gave her more color on the dramatization of the painting and realism that is very evident in the masterpiece. Another unique culture of baroque time was that Judith was regarded as a symbol of the church. Judith in the Old Testament was used to depict God’s protection of the virtue that victories vice in the society (Straussman, 180). For that reason, the story of Judith was very popular among the artist and did a lot of work on the same. They not only did artwork of the dramatic slaying of Holofernes but also did works on the events after that. This most definitely affected the creation of ‘Judith beheads Holofernes’ by Artemisia Gentileschi since the popularity of the story was inspiring and satisfied the need of her creating piece of art that people relate with (Christiansen, 120). The pictures below are of other artists’ pieces of art based on the story of Judith slaying Holofernes. One on the left is Orazio’s and the bottom one is Palazzo Vecchio’s masterpiece.

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Conclusion ‘Judith beheads Holofernes’ is a baroque art painting that is very dramatic and vivid. Its creation was largely affected by both the historical context and cultural context of the time. Just like many other baroque piece of art, Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting is related and affected by the Catholic Church history relation of the period. The weird cultural context such as the regard given to Judith also affected this piece of art. All in all, the effects and relations have done a significant contribution the creation of this fine piece of painting art, ‘Judith beheads Holofernes’ by Artemisia Gentileschi.

Surname 7 References Christiansen, Keith, et al. Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi [published to accompany the exhibition held at the Museo del Palazzo di Venezia, Rome, 15 October-6 January 2002; the Metropolian Museum of Art, New York, 14 February-12 May 2002; the Saint Louis Art Museum, 15 June-15 September 2002. Metropolitan museum of art, 2001. Christiansen, Keith. "Becoming Artemisia: Afterthoughts on the Gentileschi Exhibition." Metropolitan Museum Journal 39 (2004): 101-126. Dockray‐ Miller, Mary. "Female community in the old English Judith." Studia Neophilologica 70.2 (1998): 165-172. Garner, Lori Ann. "The art of translation in the Old English Judith." Studia Neophilologica 73.2 (2001): 171-183. Philpot, Elizabeth. "Judith and Holofernes: Changing Images in the History of Art." Translating Religious Texts. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 1993. 80-97. Slap, Joseph Wm. "Artemisia Gentileschi: Further notes." American Imago 42.3 (1985): 335342. Stone, Nira. "Judith and Holofernes: Some observations on the development of the scene in art." Studies in Armenian Art. Brill, 2019. 49-69. Straussman-Pflanzer, Eve, and Art Institute of Chicago. Violence & Virtue: Artemisia Gentileschi's Judith Slaying Holofernes. Art Institute of Chicago, 2013....