inspired by @Julie
Judith Gentileschi, Judith, 1612-1613
Fun fact that no one cares : this painting being painted by a woman may explain why the two women (judith and her servant) are activ and not passiv (like in other depiction of this mythollogic scene where judith poison the army chef and her servant watch)
another version in which the women are on the same plane of the man and it seems way too easy to cut a thraot, lul. (and the man don’t struggle anymore)
the caravaggio is so tame, i kinda hate it.
oh, but its more than that. Artemesia and her father were both close to Caravaggio and she got to grow up in art like this.
women, as history do, were treated like shit given no credit, and its believed theres quite a few of Caravaggio’s work that are more Artemesia’s work than Caravaggio.
at 17 she was raped by a family friend, Agostino Tassi, and she got no justice through the courts. the first version judith has a blue dress. Artemesia was criticized for the “mannish” musculature of the women, as well as how realistic the gore was. as well as very obviously the man is Agostino Tassi.
artemesia said, “lol bet” and she went off and made an even more bloddy, more gruesome one with a yellow dress, and the Judith looks even more like Artesmesia and the Holofernes even more like Tassi, painted a few years later.
This is my favorite story in all of classical art.
The Book of Judith is a part of the non-Protestant Old Testament: according to it, Holofernes, of intemperate character, was drunk at the time of assassination.
Quite like the understated August Riedel version
ohhhh as a lover of classical art and fluffies, ah i love this!!
Your comic inspired all this, btw. It just appeared in my head, “I want to give that little fluffy a box cutter.”
These are brilliant.
Well yeah, but she’s not the only woman in history who got her work claimed by others. And the sexual abuses she endured may not be as important in her Work as many loves to define her only by that (like, the only reason why she paint “like a man” is because she has been assaulted.)