Judith: Heroine or femme fatale?

Vesa Matteo Piludu

University of Helsinki

Judith

Catholic Bible Judith 10:11-13:20 apocryphal Book of Judith

Judith was a Jewish woman who was totally devoted to God from the Israelite town of Bethulia, threatened by Assyrian army under the command of Holofernes.

Judith, a Jewish widow, was a woman who was both attractive and honourable.

She was able to seduce Holofernes while he was drunk and then she chopped off his head and brought it back to Bethulia.

When the Bethulian soldiers showed the Assyrians Holofernes head, they retreated.

The Israelites easily overtook the Assyrians and were able to attack and defeat their army.

Judith and Judaism

The story is an allegory picturing Judith as Judaism in triumph over its pagan enemy

Somme le roi: Chastity and Judith

Judy the Chaste

Having seduced him with her beauty

but not slept with him !

hers was a suitable example of chaste behaviour

Luxury and Potiphar’s wife - Joseph

Potiphar’s wife

Another example of sexual temperance is shown next to Judith and Holofernes. This time male restraint is celebrated as we see the young Joseph shunning the lustful advances of Potiphar’s wife.

Furious at this rejection, the woman would later accuse Joseph of attempted rape.

We see her grabbing the cloak that she will use as false evidence against the young man

Alessandro Botticelli. Discovery of the Body of Holofernes. c.1469-1470

Botticelli: Return of Judith to Bethulia, 1469-70

Botticelli

In the Return of Judith to Bethulia, Botticelli uses a familiar theme and a familiar type of figure. Judith was the female character that subdued the male in a hostile environment.

Many times in Botticelli’s paintings he explores the relationship between sexes and often times, the female comes out on top

Michelangelo. Judith and Holofernes. 1508-1512. Fresco. Sistine Chapel, Vatican

Correggio. Judith. 1512-1514.

Solimena : Judith Presenting the Head of Holofernes to the People (1730)

Donatello, Judith and Oloferne 1455-60

DonatelloJudith and Holofernes (detail) 1460

Donatello, David, 1440

David, Michelangelo, sculpted from 1501 to 1504

Mighelangelo, Cappella Sistina, David and Goliath

Mantegna, Judith 1491

CaravaggioJudith Beheading Holofernes c. 1598

Artemisia Gentileschi, 1653 Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes

Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes c. 1612-1613

Gentileschi based her first glimipse on Caravaggio's famous painting from c. 1598-1599,

but enlivens the action with even more powerful female protagonists.

Gentileschi, Judith and her Maidservant c. 1613-14

Judith is a solid, mature woman with an almost goiterous neck, quite unidealised in her looks, but dressed in the clothes of a noblewoman.

She is alert to the danger of her mission, but registers caution rather than fear

The Tassi’s trial

A certain Tassi violated Artemisia's virginity, a “requisite” for marriage between decent people. A consensual sexual relationship continued because he promised to marry her. It is likely that Artemisia hoped that he would marry her to restore her reputation.

Her father discovered the assault and charged Tassi with rape. The trial was a painful public humiliation for Artemisia. During the proceedings, she underwent vaginal examination and torture with thumbscrews. She was accused of being unchaste when she met Tassi and also of promiscuity. He also attacked her professional reputation.

It was not until recent years that research by Lapierre revealed that Tassi was found guilty. He was given the choice of five years hard labour or exile from Rome. He choose the latter, but he was back in Rome within 4 months, probably due to influence in high places.

Is this painting Artemisia's means of brandishing symbolic justice for herself and other victims?

Boulogne : Judith and Holofernes (1626)

Lama : Judith and Holofernes, (1730)

De Bray [1627 – 04 Dec 1697] .Judith and Holofernes

Liss, Johann

Allori : Judith with the Head of Holofernes (1615)  

Giovanni Gioseffo (or Giuseppe) dal SoleItalian painter who died on 22 July 1719 Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Jan Massys 1509-75, Judith

Cranach the ElderJudith Dining with Holofernes (1531)

Cranach the ElderJudith Victorious c. 1530 (1625)

Judith with the Head of Holofernes (1530)

Luchas Cranach the Elder: Salome, 1530

Klimt, Jvdith vnd Holofernes (1901)

Klimt, Jvdith II (1901)