Gentileschi, Artemisia (1593-c.1653)
Giuditta con la sua ancella (Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes)
c.1623–1625
Oil on canvas, 187.2 × 142 × 3.3 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
This impressive composition was made by Artemisia Gentileschi, the first woman to become a member of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence. Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes represents the aftermath of the episode in the Jewish Bible in which the brave widow Judith, aided by her maidservant, kills the Assyrian enemy general Holofernes to save Israel. In Gentileschi’s canvas — executed with a directness that sets it apart from many contemporary renditions of the same subject — Judith still brandishes a sword and appears to pause in alarm; Holofernes’s decapitated head lies at her feet. The theatrical, intense lighting of the scene echoes the work of Michelangelo da Caravaggio. However, in its naturalism and clear sympathy for the fear and apprehension of its female protagonists, this painting is entirely unique to Artemisia herself. (DIA)