Artemisia Gentileschi's depiction of “Judith slaying Holofernes” is my favorite over Caravaggio's “Judith beheading Holofernes” because of the absolute bloodletting portrayed in her own version. In my own opinion, Artemisia Gentileschi's “Judith slaying Holofernes” is the most powerful Baroque painting considering Gentileschi's dark past. Allow me to provide such back story of this woman, and her undeniable genius. Artemisia Gentileschi had been born July 8th, of 1593. She had been an accomplished Baroque painter, despite her being a female painter in the 1600's. She was actually the first woman to become a full member of the Accademia di Arte Del Disegno in Florence. She later died in 1656.
A common theme in which Artemisia Gentileschi's paintings are mostly women in a struggle; often strong women, suffering women. Why? Oh that's the beautiful part. Beautiful only in the sense of what she made of herself because of what happened. Don't get me twisted, what happened to her is absolutely tragic. Artemisia Gentileschi had been raped, just as her subject in “Judith Slaying Holofernes” had been. ALSO, Gentileschi had prosecuted the rapist, just as her subject did so in her painting.
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In this painting, which is oil on canvas, Judith is severing Holofernes head in good reason. In the biblical story, the Book of Judish tells of how Judith was stripped of her clothes and raped by Holofernes, whom was the Assyrian General. Judith later gets Holofernes drunk, and enticed him to bed. Only to execute her revenge. By cutting Holofernes's HEAD