Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes
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Artists:
- Orazio Gentileschi (Artist - uncertain)
- Artemisia Gentileschi (Co-worker/assistant - uncertain)
- Creation date: ca. 1608–1612
- Object type: Painting
About
A violent deed has been committed, but this depiction of the biblical story of Judith and her maidservant beheading Holofernes also shows tender gestures and composure.
The painting depicts a story from the Old Testament, the book of Judith. A story that was disputed by the Protestants and excluded from their version of the Bible.
At the heart of this work is a wicket basket holding the severed head of Holofernes. His contorted face is directed towards the viewer. The perpetrator of Holofernes’ beheading was Judith, a beautiful Jewish widow whose beauty and cold-blooded action saved her people from destruction. She and her maidservant Abra, pictured on the right, went to the camp of Holofernes, the Assyrian general whose troops were besieging the Jewish town of Betulia. Judith was invited into the general’s tent, got him drunk and cut off his head as he slept. Taking the head as a trophy and as proof that her clever plan had succeeded, she and her maid slipped out of the enemy camp. The following morning the head was displayed on the town wall for everyone to see.
After the deed
Shortly before 1600 Caravaggio transformed this traditional theme by showing the horrific deed itself. Gentileschi opted for a less violent but more psychologically charged variant: the moment immediately after the deed was done when Judith has just given the head to her maid. The blood drips through the basket onto the white cloth intended to conceal the head. Judith is still holding the murder weapon – Holofernes’ own sword – in her right hand. The painter uses the warm tones of Judith’s opulent dress and jewellery to emphasise her beauty, in stark contrast to the ashen face of the army commander.
Judith and Abra are looking at something outside the picture plane that the viewer cannot see. They could be looking at Holofernes’ body, but from their alert demeanour it seems more likely that they are listening for a sign of whether the guards outside the tent have an inkling of what has just happened. The maid holds the basket on her hip, out of sight of any soldier who might come to investigate. Judith rests her hand on Abra’s shoulder. It is a tender gesture that connects these two women who have conspired to carry out this courageous act, but at the same time it is an expression of composure. By setting them off in sharp relief against the dark emerald green curtains of Holofernes’s luxurious tent, the attention focuses on the two as they wait in suspense. Abra is conspicuously young in the painting; many other painters depicted the maidservant as a wrinkled old woman.
Father-daughter collaboration?
The composition was repeated in a painting dated from around 1616-19 by Artemisia Gentileschi, who treated the subject several times. An article from 2019 argues that this version was also painted by Artemisia. But a majority of art historians still attribute this painting to Orazio Gentileschi.
There is reasonable consensus on the dating of this earlier work. Most art historians place it in the 1608-1612 period, with one exception dating it after Artemisia’s version. This means the work was painted in the years Artemisia was still active in her father’s workshop, and this painting could thus have been painted as a co-production.
Literature
Exh. Cat. Amsterdam 2019, Caravaggio Bernini. Early Baroque in Rome, Wenen, Amsterdam 2019, pp. 116-117, cat. no. 9.
Exh. Cat. Florence 1991, Artemisia: Casa Buonarroti, Roma 1991.
Exh. Cat. London 2020. Artemisia, London 2020, cat. no. 1.
Christiansen, Keith, and Mann, Judith W., Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi. New York ; New Haven 2001
De Ruggieri, Maria Beatrice, Artemisia Gentileschi e Il Suo Tempo. Milaan 2016
Emiliani, A., “Orazio Gentileschi: Nuove Proposte per Il Viaggio Marchigiano.” Paragone 103 (1958), pp. 38–57.
Garrard, Mary D. Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art. Princeton 1989.
Lange, Marit, and Ljøgodt, Knut. Italienske malerier i Nasjonalgalleriet. Oslo 1999.
Lerberg, Ellen J. “Judith i Nasjonalgalleriet.” Kunst Og Kultur 76, nr. 3 (1993), pp. 182–91.
Longhi, Roberto. “Ultimi Studi Sul Caravaggio e La Sua Cerchia.” Proporzioni I (1943), pp. 5–63 .
Moir, Alfred. The Italian Followers of Caravaggio. Vol. I. Cambridge Mass 1967.
Momesso, Sergio. La Collezione Di Antonio Scarpa (1752-1832). Cittadella 2007.
Nicolson, Benedict. Caravaggism in Europe. 2nd ed., rev. and enl. Vol. 1. 3 vols. Florence 1990
Østby, Leif, ed. Katalog over utenlandsk malerkunst. Oslo 1973.
Papi, Gianni, Bischoff, Nina Gram and Ford, Thierry. “Gentileschi’s ‘Judith and Her Maidservant’, Oslo. Recent Art Historical and Technical Investigations.” The Burlington Magazine, nr. 161 (2019), ss. 532-543
Schütze, Sebastian. “Staging Religious History for Collectors and Connoisseurs.” In Caravaggio & His Followers in Rome, 256–95. New Haven, London 2011.
Waallann Hansen, Vibeke, Ellen J. Lerberg, and Marianne Yvenes, eds. The National Museum: Highlights: Art from Antiquity to 1945. Oslo 2014
Ward Bissell, R. Orazio Gentileschi and the Poetic Tradition in Caravaggesque Painting. Philadelphia 1981.
Ward Bissell, R., 1999. Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art: Critical Reading and Catalogue Raisonné. Philadelphia 1999.
Witt, A. de. “Ein Werk Aus Dem Caravaggio-Kreis.” Pantheon 23 (1939), pp. 51–53.
Artists/producers
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The predominant perception of early modern painters is that they are male. However, although it was less common, there were also women with successful artistic careers. One of these was Artemisia Gentileschi, who was born into a family of artists in 16th century Rome. She and her three brothers were trained to become painters by their father, Orazio Gentileschi.
Artemisia Gentileschi’s successful career spanned over forty years. She worked in Rome, Florence, Venice, London and Naples. Many of her works depict women as historical, allegorical or biblical figures. Her style closely resembles that of her teacher’s, her father Orazio. His style changed radically after he befriended Caravaggio in Rome. Caravaggio’s realistic paintings have a stark light and dark contrast and often depict the most dramatic moment in a story. Artemisia adopts the same sense of drama in her own paintings, which arouse strong emotions in the beholder.
Apprentice
Artemisia started her career as an apprentice in her father Orazio’s workshop around the age of twelve or thirteen. This was the normal age to start learning a craft at that time. Apprentices started by learning the basics, such as how to prepare a linen canvas and how to grind pigments for oil paint. They also received drawing lessons. As their skills developed, they assisted with their master’s commissions. Artemisia’s education was complete by the time she reached the age of seventeen, and she started to produce her own paintings. Being born into a family of artists made it possible for her to break with society’s traditional expectations for women.
Her first signed and dated painting is from 1610, and showcased her skills to potential customers. As a woman she spent most of her early life indoors. Excursions to study art, an important part of an artist’s education, were rare for her. She was not allowed to study the human body, so she had to use her own body to learn about anatomy. It is suspected she did not learn to read until later in her life.
Developing her own style
Artemisia Gentileschi’s life story and her large-scale paintings of powerful women became a symbol for the #metoo movement. In 1611, she was raped by the landscape painter Agostino Tassi, who was a friend of her father’s. After Tassi reneged on his promise to marry Artemisia, Orazio filed a lawsuit. During the trial Artemisia was subjected to torture to determine whether she spoke the truth. Although the Gentileschis won the case, Artemisia left Rome for Florence shortly after the trial. She was married off to the Florentine artist Pierantonio Stiattesi. This gave her the chance to develop her own style outside of her father’s studio and to view the works of other painters. She spent time in Florence and in Venice. She followed her father to the London court before finally settling down in Naples, where she lived until she died.
Approximately 80 of her works survive today. As a result of increased focus on and research into her life and paintings, some new works have been added to her oeuvre in recent years. She did not sign or date all of her works, and many have been attributed to her on basis of their style. Hopefully, future research on her painting techniques will make it possible to identify further paintings from her hand.
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