Caravaggio's Depiction of Judith Beheading Holefernes

Here is the painting I mentioned in class on Wednesday.  Caravaggio (who Gentileschi was very influenced by, and to whom many of her paintings were misattributed for a long time) also painted the a version of Lilith beheading Holefernes.  I post it here so you can compare and contrast the two images for yourself.  There are no doubt a lot of similarities.  The differences, however, are the most telling about the attitudes of each individual artist:

Judith Beheading Holofernes

Caravaggio

1598-1599

A Video About Artemisia Gentileschi

Slide Images for September 10

Caravaggio

The Conversion on the Way to Damascus

1600

 Caravaggio

The Incredulity of St. Thomas

c.  1601-1602

 Elisabetta Sirani

Portrait of Anna Maria Ranuzzi as Charity

1665

 Elisabetta Sirani

Portia Wounding Her Thigh

1664

 Artemisia Gentileschi

Susanna and the Elders

1610

 Tintoretto

Susanna and the Elders

1555-56

 Artemisia Gentileschi

Judith with Her Maidservant

c. 1618

Artemisia Gentileschi

Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes

1625

 Orazio Gentileschi

Judith with Her Maidservant

c. 1610-1612

 Giorgione

Judith with the Head of Holefernes

1504

Giovan Giosefa dal Sole

Portrait of a Woman as Judith

c. 1620s

 Artemisia Gentileschi

Judith Slaying Holefornes

c. 1618

Artemisia Gentileschi

Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting

1630s

Terms of the Day for September 10

• The Baroque - a period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music. The style started around 1600 in Rome, Italy and spread to most of Europe.
• Tenebrism -  from the Italian tenebroso (murky), a style of painting using very pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and darkness becomes a dominating feature of the image.

Slide Images for September 8

 Catherine of Bologna

Virgin and the Christ Child

c. 1440s

 Marcantonio Franceschini

St. Caterina Vigri

Seventeenth Century

 Diana Scultori

Leto Giving Birth to Apollo and Diana on the Island of Delos

c. 1560s

 Diana Scultori

Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery

1575

 Properzia de’ Rossi

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

1520

 Correggio

Madonna with St. George

1530-32

 Parmigianino

Madonna with the Long Neck

1535-1540

 Prospero Fontana

The Deposition

1563

Lavinia Fontana

The Holy Family with Saints

1578

Lavinia Fontana

Self-Portrait

c. 1570s

Lavinia Fontana

Self-Portrait

1578

 Lavinia Fontana

Portrait of a Lady with a Lap Dog

1598

 Lavinia Fontana

Consecration to the Virgin

1599

Felice Casoni

Lavinia Fontana

1611

Terms of the Day for September 8

• Mannerism - From the Italian word maniera, meaning “style”, this was a period of European art that emerged in the late Italian Renaissance. It is influenced by, and is a reaction to, the harmonious ideals and restrained naturalism of Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo.
• The Protestant Reformation – a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other early Protestants.  The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led to the creation of new national Protestant churches.
• The Counter-Reformation – (also known as the Catholic Revival or Catholic Reformation) The period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent (1543–1565) and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War (1648) as a response to the Protestant Reformation.  The reforms put in place were designed to attract people back to the Catholic church and to increase its strength.  It also involved political activities that included the Roman and Spanish Inquisitions.