Baroque · c. 1620
Judith Beheading Holofernes
Judith and her maid work together with physical force. Gentileschi pushed a familiar biblical scene close to the viewer and refused to soften it.
- Made
- c. 1620
- Style
- Baroque
- Collection
- Uffizi Galleries, Florence
From museum to game table
The in-game crop
The card adds paint spaces, rewards and a frame. This crop shows the artwork area used during play, without the card rails.
The short history
What happened here?
The story comes from the Book of Judith. Judith enters the enemy camp, gets the general Holofernes drunk and kills him to save her city.
Gentileschi followed Caravaggio's dramatic light and close staging, but made Judith and Abra active partners. Their sleeves are rolled back. Their arms form a strong crossing structure over the bed.
The painting was likely completed after Gentileschi returned to Rome from Florence. It entered the Medici collection and was later displayed at the Uffizi, where its authorship and force gained new attention in the twentieth century.
Look closer
Three details worth finding
- 1The crossing diagonals of four arms
- 2Judith's carefully protected dress
- 3Light concentrated on the three faces
Sources
Read further
Museum records come first. Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons provide useful public background and image records.