Caravaggio also has a great impact on my work, his dull and mellow colours and conflicting images.
This picture portraits a widowed woman named Judith who was a Jew of high rank in Bethulia,a town besieged by the army of the Assyrian general Holofernes.(taken from http://www.artemisia-gentileschi.com/judith1.html[Accessed on 9 January 2013]. She disguised herself as a messenger on a special mission. He ordered a feast with flowing beverages, after he had a bit too much to drink he passed out. Judith and the maid sought the opportunity to strike and so she decapitated his his head and smuggled it back to Bethulia. By doing this she put the enemy to flight. Judith represents virtue overcoming evil. Her beauty stands out against the ferocity of the scene.
this is one of my favorite paintings because of the defined detail and it also shows the power and strength of women. In the picture both women seem fearless and stern, almost as though they've done it before.
The way the cloth is laid out is very peculiar in such a way that the general's sheet is red unlike Judith's which is a deep yellow. the red sheet shows the victim. the sward is very symbolic and i am surely going to use it in my final piece.
 Caravaggio, 1598-1599, Gntileschi Judith Beheading Holofernes, Available at: http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6234/6319909461_de31b537e5.jpg |
| [Accessed 9 january 2013]. |
Hi Hannah,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to let you know that the painting you are talking about is not by Caravaggio but by Artemisia Gentileschi, also an Italian painter. The painting is dated c. 1612-1613. Caravaggio did paint the beheading in 1598-99 but a less violent one, with Judith in white.