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Europe 1300 - 1800
Course: Europe 1300 - 1800 > Unit 9
Lesson 2: Italy- Restoring ancient sculpture in Baroque Rome
- Bernini, Pluto and Proserpina
- Bernini, David
- Bernini, David
- Bernini, David
- Bernini, Apollo and Daphne
- Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Baldacchino
- Bernini, Bust of Medusa
- Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
- Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
- Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
- Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Cathedra Petri (Chair of St. Peter)
- Bernini, Saint Peter's Square
- Bernini, Sant'Andrea al Quirinale
- Geometry and motion in Borromini's San Carlo
- Annibale Carracci, Landscape with the Flight into Egypt
- Carracci, Christ Appearing to Saint Peter on the Appian Way
- Caravaggio, Narcissus at the Source
- Caravaggio, Calling of Saint Matthew
- Caravaggio, Calling of St. Matthew
- Caravaggio, The Conversion of St. Paul (or The Conversion of Saul)
- Caravaggio, Crucifixion of Saint Peter
- Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus
- Caravaggio, Deposition
- Caravaggio, Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
- Caravaggio, The Flagellation of Christ
- Caravaggio, Death of the Virgin
- Caravaggio and Caravaggisti in 17th-Century Europe
- Guido Reni, Aurora
- Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes
- Gentileschi, Judith and Holofernes
- Gentileschi, Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes
- Gentileschi, Conversion of the Magdalene
- Elisabetta Sirani, Portia Wounding her Thigh
- Guercino, Saint Luke Displaying a Painting of the Virgin
- Il Gesù, including Triumph of the Name of Jesus ceiling fresco
- Pozzo, Saint Ignatius Chapel, Il Gesù
- Pozzo, Glorification of Saint Ignatius, Sant'Ignazio
- The altar tabernacle, Pauline Chapel, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome
- Pierre Le Gros the Younger, Stanislas Kostka on his Deathbed
- Baroque art in Italy
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Gentileschi, Judith and Holofernes
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and Holofernes, 1620-21, oil on canvas, 162.5 x 199 cm (Uffizi Gallery, Florence)
Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- Two art terms that I need clarification on...
Tenebrism vs. Chiaroscuro
I know that they both deal with the elements of light within a painting, but can I get some real clarity on this as examples of the two and not just links to wikipedia please. Thanks!(10 votes)- Chiaroscuro
An Italian word meaning light and dark that refers to the modulation of light and dark in order to produce an illusion of three-dimensional form. Also called modeling or shading.
Tenebrism (tenebroso)
Is Italian for dark or gloomy and refers to an extreme use of light and dark that is theatrical (like a spotlight) and sharply contrasts dark blacks against brilliant lights to create vivid illusions of dimensional form.(20 votes)
- Art historians ought to do their homework. Anyone knows that this is not from the Old Testament, but from the Apocrypha. There is a huge difference.(0 votes)
- Thanks for the post, we work hard to do our homework and always appreciate when an error is brought to our attention. In this case, however, we stand by our statements. You are correct that the Book of Judith is excluded from the Old Testament, but importantly, this is only in Protestant versions and in the Jewish Bible. The Book of Judith can, in fact be found in the OT in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles. Needless to say, Artemisia Gentileschi would have been most familiar with a Roman Catholic Bible.(27 votes)
- At :11, when you say "This is the painting most reproduced by Artemisia", did you mean 1. most reproduced by Artemisia herself? Did she paint it more than twice, and it just has not been mentioned? or 2. Artemisia's most reproduced painting (as in the reproductions were not done by her)?(3 votes)
- Artemisia Gentileschi did paint this image twice
(see this article: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/monarchy-enlightenment/baroque-art1/baroque-italy/a/gentileschi-judith-slaying-holofernes )
but the subject of 'Judith Slaying Holofernes' is a reproduced image by various artist(2 votes)
- Does she look like Maria Theresa, Holy Roman Empress to anyone else?(0 votes)
Video transcript
(jazzy piano) Zucker: We're in the Uffizi
in Florence looking at a large Baroque painting by the
artist Artemisia Gentileschi. Harris: This is the painting
that's most often reproduced by Artemisia, the subject
is Judith and Holofernes. This is a biblical subject- Zucker: Old testament. Harris: It's the story of a
heroic woman and of course, that is always a handy thing
when you're an art historian and you're talking about a woman artist. In fact, it's difficult
often with women artists not to read their biography
into the paintings. Let's just take a close look
at the painting to start with. Zucker: It is Baroque in almost every way. We have this deep tenebrism,
this painting in a dark manner. This very shadowed background that creates this very shallow space
and then the brilliantly highlighted figures in the foreground. Harris: We are in the tent of the Assyrian general Holofernes. So the story is that Judith is
a Jewish widow from the town of Bethulia, which is under
siege by the Assyrian army. Holofernes is the general of that army. Zucker: And the Jewish
town is about to give up. Harris: Judith hatches
a plan to save Bethulia. Zucker: She dresses herself
up to catch the eye of the Assyrian general and is
able to move across enemy lines because she's seen as
betraying her own town. This story is usually
interpreted that she seduces the general, but he gets
drunk and falls asleep. Then she takes his sword and beheads him. That's the moment that we're seeing here. Harris: She's accompanied
by her maidservant. Artemisia also painted the
next moment of the story, which is after the beheading,
they take the head, put it in a bag and
bring it back to Bethulia to show everyone in the
town that they're now safe. Zucker: The maid is
pressing down on Holofernes with all of her might and
he seems to be fighting back as best he can in his
drunken, half-asleep state. But Judith is at that
moment severing his head and blood spurts everywhere,
this is tremendously violent. Harris: She grasps the beard
and the hair on his head and holds his head down
and with her right arm, draws that sword through his neck. You can feel the force that it took. This is very different from
Caravaggio's version of the subject where Judith looks
very dainty and as though she doesn't really have the
strength to behead Holofernes. Zucker: Look at the contrast of scale. Look at the size of
Holofernes' fist against the maidservant's face
and just how powerful he is versus the scale of the woman. Harris: Well it takes two of
them to conquer one of him. Zucker: Notice the way that
both of the women's arms are fully extended, whereas Holofernes'
arm breaks at the elbow. His leg breaks at the knee so we have the sense of dismemberment
that is not only at the head, but also at his other limbs. The womens' arms diagonals
pushing towards the center. The general's legs functioning very much to pair with the parallel
forearms of Judith. But all of those limbs
bringing our attention down to the severing, down to
the violent act itself. Harris: His body is
radically foreshortened. Something that is common in Baroque art. With his head [verif
clostas] and this blood spurting up and down those white sheets. The bloodiest, goriest part of this painting is what's closest to us. Zucker: And as you said,
Judith holds his head down. But what that does is
dislocates it so that it seems no longer connected to his body. Harris: We have this dramatic
contrast of light and dark that we also see very oft in Baroque art. Where we have areas of
very bright illumination right up against very
dark areas of shadow. Zucker: What that creates is
a kind of vivid physicality. Harris: And it looks to me like she's rolled up her sleeves in order to do this. The naturalism is so
palpable here and of course, that is the heart of Baroque art. (jazzy piano)