BOOK OF JUDITH

Remember the story? "Nebuchadnezzar" dispatched Holofernes to

take vengeance on the nations of the west that had withheld their assistance to his reign. The general laid siege to Bethulia, and the city almost surrendered. It was saved by Judith, a beautiful Hebrew widow who entered Holofernes' camp and seduced him. Judith then beheaded Holofernes while he was drunk. She returned to Bethulia with the disembodied head, and the Hebrews defeated the enemy.

BOOK OF JUDITH

Judith is didactic fiction, complete with many historical inaccuracies, probably composed less than a century before Christ's birth by an unknown author.

Judith and Holofernes (Judith 13,1-10)

"Judith was left alone in the tent, with Holofernes stretched out on the bed, for he was overcome with wine (Judith 13,2)... She went up to the post at the end of the bed, above Holofernes' head, and took down his sword that hung there. She came close to the bed and took hold of the hair of his head, and said: "Give me strength this day, O Lord God of Israel!". And she struck his neck twice with all her might, and severed his head from his body (Judith 13,6-8)... After a moment she went out and gave Holofernes' head to her maid (Judith 13, 9)".

The Old Testament narrates the episode of Judith who saved her city of Bethulia from the siege of Holofernes, general of the Assyrian king Nabucodonosor, by killing him after a banquet at which he had been made drink, beheading him and bringing his head to his fellow citizens (Judith ch. 10-13).

Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes

• Painted six versions of the story

• Gentileschi raped when young: is there a relationship of this event to the painting?

• Artist identified with Judith, Gentileschi’s self-portrait as the heroine

• Not idealized but realistic figures

• Gory moment of decapitation, blood squirting out: shock value

• Holofernes defenseless• Tenebroso• Dramatic light effect from the

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