Judith Beheading Holofernes

Judith Beheading Holofernes

tells the story Biblical story of Judith, who saved her people by seducing and beheading the Assyrian general Holofernes. Caravaggio was aware of Judith's identity as a symbol of triumph over tyranny; but he presented the subject primarily as a melodrama, choosing the relatively rarely represented climactic moment of the actual beheading of Holofernes. Judith, young, beautiful, and physically weak, draws back distastefully as she seizes Holofernes's hair and cleaves through his neck with his own sword.

A well-born Renaissance young lady, Judith, standing at a safe distance, does the deed which made her famous. As for the brutal Assyrian general Holofernes, he is caught completely off-guard. The blood flows over his white bed linens. Judith’s elderly maidservant holds the bag that will soon contain Holofernes’ head.

Carvaggio

https://www.caravaggio.org/judith-beheading-holofernes.jsp

Palazzo Barberini

17th Century

Painting