This painting strikes me for a number of reasons. Gentileschi's use of contrasting dark and light colors, as in the pitch-black upper-left corner and the bright red and blue of the two women, adds drama to an already very dramatic painting. Obviously, this painting refers to the biblical story in which Judith slays Holofernes, a Greek general. So, one would expect to see some gore. But this painting goes further than expected. With blood cascading down the sheets and Holofernes' head, the painting evoked fear and awe in me. I also loved the use of detail in giving the painting "motion." The spurting blood and the ruffles of the sheets give the painting a sense of motion.
This painting is clearly representative of the Baroque Era. The two main components to me that distinguish it are its use of contrasting color and its extensive use of detail that adds depth and motion. Baroque paintings were famous for their drama, and a murder scene would be expected to provide that. This painting shows gory details and dark colors to portray this, and the use of contrasting color adds even more drama by highlighting the "murderers." Finally, Baroque paintings were also renowned for their ability to "draw viewers" in by using detail (sometimes even excessive detail) to show depth as well as motion. As mentioned above, the use of the flowing blood and the severing of the neck show motion; a stark departure from the flat images of the Middle Ages.
I agree with you, it sparked fear in me too. And not knowing anything about the bible, it was very helpful that you mentioned the story of how Judith slays the Greek general, Holofernes. You perfectly described how it is representative of the Baroque era! You were spot on about how there was a lot of movement in the baroque era paintings. That was something I forgot to mention. But what I would've mentioned though is something about the use of light in the painting. Because the use of light also contributes to the depth in the painting. Overall you did an amazing job ben! I really enjoyed reading about this painting!
ReplyDeleteAwesome Job! I agree this painting does strike some fear. It is overly gory. In a way there is a lot more detail than what is needed. I did a painting by Caravaggio and many of the Italian artists painted about religious events. This and the way light is used is very demonstrative of the Baroque era. The lighting makes the painting much better especially by adding depth. This is something you could have added. You do say how dark colors are portrayed which is good, however most of the dark colors are caused by shadows. Perhaps the overly gory depiction of a bible scene says something about the state at the time?
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