Nicole Strohmeyer

 Title: Judith Beheading Holofernes  Artist: Caravaggio  Created:  Type: oil on canvas  Location: Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica at Palazzo Barberini, Rome  Subject: King Nebuchanezzar of Nineveh and Assyria was conquering land to assert his power. Holofernes was a general of Nebuchanezzar’s and sieged Bethulia, a Biblical city in Israel. The people of Bethulia had lost hope and Oziah, the governor, said they would surrender in five days. Judith, a widow, seduced Holofernes and beheaded him to save her people.

 Initial reaction  Intended audience  Techniques  What’s missing?  Point of views/ perspectives  Purpose and mood

 This painting is definitely eye catching and my initial reaction was impressed that this girl had the courage to perform such an extreme task, and then I wanted to know why she felt it was necessary to kill this man and was impressed again to find out that by performing this extreme task she saved her people.

 people interested in religion and/or people that were practicing conspicuous consumption, either the church or people with a lot of money to spend on art.

 Irony- Caravaggio depicts Judith as young, pretty, and basically sweet looking, which is ironic considering she is murdering a man, but since he is a bad man and she loves her people, she feels she must do this and her determination appeals to the audiences ethics and emotions.  Juxtaposition- Holofernes and Judith are also in contrast by him being in shadows and covered by a dark blanket and her being in white and in the light, this is symbolic of evil versus good and is an ethical appeal.

 Symbolism- In the background Caravaggio painted the curtain red and red symbolizes passion and, in this case, it is the passion or lust for Judith and power, that cost him his life and thus furthering the development of Caravaggio’s purpose.  Symbolism- At the shoulder of Judith is her servant, the servant is loyal to Judith and that is why she went with Judith, Caravaggio painted the servant to symbolize loyalty of Judith to her people and how she was willing to sacrifice for their well-being, appealing to ethics and possibly logic if you’re the type of person that would sacrifice yourself, logically.  Symbolism- Soldiers are powerful and use swords (in this time), therefore swords symbolize power. Holofernes lusts for power, and in the end it kills him, the idea of deadly power appeals to the ethics of the audience.

 The King that ordered Holofernes to siege the town.  The governor of the town.  How Judith seduced Holofernes.  What happened after she killed him.  The story that this painting illustrates.

 Caravaggio, hearing or reading this story, portrayed it from the perspective of a artist during the Renaissance. Renaissance indicators are the ideal, but realistic body of the three figures and the emotion in all three faces, chiaroscuro also indicated the time period the work was created in. His point of view was also influenced by the religious turmoil happening in Europe during this time.

 The purpose at the time of the painting was to illustrate a story, but the purpose could also be, after analysis, to empower women, to warn against evil doings and power lust, to foreshadow what happens when ego muddles judgment, or to never trust a seducer.  The mood conveyed is moralistically enlightening and mocking. Considering the moral of the story is good defeats evil, then Caravaggio has painted the most horrific and dramatic scene of the story to have the most morally conflicting effect and to mock Holofernes’s fate because he was so evil.

Judith Beheading Holofernes (Caravaggio) Galleria Nazionale D'Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome. Wikipedia. Comp. Catherine Puglisi and Peter Robb (1998). Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Oct Web. 04 Feb