Judite e Holofernes

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The beheading of Holofernes by Judith is recounted in the deuterocanonical Book of Judith, and is the subject of many paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In the story, Judith, a beautiful Jewish widow, enters the tent of Assyrian general Holofernes under the guise of seduction, as he was preparing to destroy Judith's home, the city of Bethulia. He passes out intoxicated and is decapitated by Judith; his head is taken away in a basket (often depicted as being carried away by an elderly female servant). Artists have mainly chosen one of two possible scenes (with or without the servant): the decapitation, with Holofernes supine on the bed, or Judith the heroine holding or carrying the head. In European art, Judith is very often accompanied by her maid at her shoulder, which serves to distinguish her from Salome, who also carries her victim's head on a silver charger (plate). However, a northern tradition developed whereby Judith had both a maid and a charger, taken by Erwin Panofsky as an example of the knowledge needed in the study of iconography. For many artists and scholars, Judith's sexualized femininity is sometimes contradictorily combined with more stereotypical masculine aggression. Judith was one of the virtuous women whom Van Beverwijck mentioned in his published apology (1639) for the superiority of women to men, and a common example of the Power of Women iconographic theme in the Northern Renaissance.