Judith’s image has always been of particular interest to Western European artists. The plot of the famous biblical story was very in demand by painters of different eras and styles. One of these artists is Caravaggio.
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi di Caravaggio, a student of the 17th-century Milanese school of painting, is considered one of the founders of realistic painting in Western Europe and a reformer artist.
Caravaggio lived in Rome for about fifteen years, but was forced to hide due to murder during a duel, and fled first to Malta, where he ended up in prison, and then to the island of Sicily.
All paintings by Caravaggio are based on the play of light and shadow. They are simple in construction and concise. The images of his works are expressive, dramatic and very emotional. It is believed that the master used forbidden techniques as a nature - he wrote alcoholics, drowned men, prostitutes, beggars ...
Judith and Holofernes: Images of the Biblical Myth
In his painting Judith and Holofernes, Caravaggio conveyed the content of an ancient biblical myth.
After the victory over the Medes, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar decided to punish the peoples who refused at the right time to support his army. He called to his commander named Holofernes and sent with an army under the walls of the Jewish city of Vetului to destroy him. Approaching the city, Holofernes began to prepare for the assault, but changed his mind, as the Mayans indicated to him the source, bringing water to the city. The Babylonians blocked the source and began to wait for the day when the inhabitants of Vetului themselves die of hunger and thirst. And so, when the townspeople no longer had urine, they began to blame the inaction of their ruler. But he did not know what to answer, and went for advice to a young rich widow named Judith, who spent in her prayers to the Lord all her days and nights after her husband's death in a tent on the roof of her own house. Having heard about what had happened, Judith suggested not to rush and rely on the will of God. She volunteered to try to save her fellow citizens from the Babylonian army.
At night, along with the maid, she scooped up bags of food and went out the gate. Having reached the enemy camp, Judith requested a meeting with Holofernes. She explained her visit with the stubbornness of the ruler and the fact that from the famine in the city they had already eaten all the sacred animals and the punishment of the Lord - not far off. And so she fled from Vetului to the camp to the Babylonians.
Holofernes invited him to live in his tent until the end of the confrontation. Judith agreed. After a lavish feast, Holofernes and Judith retired to Holofernes room, and when he, drunk with wine, fell asleep, Judith drew her sword hidden behind a pillar of bed and cut off his head. Secretly, she left Holofernes' tent, blowing his head. On the street, a maid was waiting for her. She hid her head in a sack of provisions, and the women quietly returned to protect their hometown.
In the morning, the townspeople began to prepare for an attack on the Babylonians. When they saw the detachments under construction, they rushed to Holofernes and found him mortified and without a head. From fear, the Babylonian warriors rushed to flee. So Judith saved her city with the help of God.
Judith and Holofernes in the painting Caravaggio
What is the innovation of Caravaggio in this canvas? The fact is that usually in the paintings of other artists the plot began from the moment when the murder of Holofernes had already happened, and Judith was standing with his head cut off in his hand. In the same picture, the master turns to a detailed depiction of the very process of beheading the enemy by a brave and cold-blooded woman, a patriot, whose determination and concentration determine the life of all the inhabitants of her hometown.
The bright and rich color of Caravaggio’s painting “Judith and Holofernes” enhances the contrast between the beauty of young Judith and the dark and terrible, but righteous deed, accomplished by her. Holofernes’s face was also written out with the smallest details, as if the author himself was either present at the event, or saw a similar “object” somewhere earlier and wrote it, if not from nature, then at least from memory.
Judith and Holofernes by Caravaggio: a resonance picture
Caravaggio's works resonated with the habits and traditions of the society of Europe of the XVII century. Lovers of artificial beauty, customers did not always accept his work because of the unusual drama, killing their inner balance and tranquility, eating up the harmony of the soul. They made me horrified and shuddered by the pressure of drama, waves beating from canvases. So is Caravaggio's painting "Judith and Holofernes." Often you can find in relation to her an epithet - "emotional knockdown." Like other canvases of the same plan, "Judith" retains in itself the eternal vices and dignities of people and society, living among us to this day. That is why she still does not leave indifferent any viewer.