Judith and Holofernes

The story of Judith and Holofernes is a somewhat messed up story about justice, and revenge. Nebbacanezzar wants to take over the world, some people disagree with him, he plans his revenge. Holofernes is put in charge of taking this revenge, and runs into the Israelites who he wasnt instructed to destroy, but they slighted him by taking up an army against him, so he plans his revenge. Judith, an Israelite woman, knows that their days are numbered if they do not act, and takes it upon herself to get revenge for her town. The majority of this story is the mess that is created from 1 person expecting to be able to take over the world without any problems from anyone. All the rest of the problems derive from that. If I were to be directing this as a movie I would shoot it in deep rich colors, especially red, to represent the passion of all these people either taking revenge or fearing it. Judith would be set in bright white, and deep red, representing the pure light of her religion, and the deepness of her passion. Holofernes I would set in reds and blacks. The people of Judith's town in the mountains, i would dress in neutral color representing their piety and humility, except for perhaps Archior. Lastly the charcter of Judith's maid I would dress in very grey colors, but perhaps a slight touch of a dark rich color, since she too was part of Judith's plans, and she was the one who carried the head of Holofernes in a basket. I feel like her character would be interesting to develop further. Whether or not she was upset at the murder she had been a part of, or if she was glad to be getting revenge for the Israelites. It seems to me that she would be somewhat of a dark character, perhaps something worth basing a book or movie around.

My favorite depiction

of this story is done by Gentileschi entitled Judith Slaying Holofernes. This work seems to agree with me in terms of the deep reds in both the blanket covering Holofernes and as a part of Judith's outfit, (which also includes rich golds which seem to be a sign of her wealth.) This work also includes Judith's maid taking part in the murder of Holofernes, holding him down while he grasps at her rather than at Judith. The maid is dressed in lots of muted white, but also has a pinkish red color on her outfit. The dark black of the background brings all the focus on the lightest part of the picture, which seems to be Judith's maid. The maid also seems to have a look of sadness on her face, besides the look of struggle in holding down the massive Holofernes. This seems to me to be in synch with my idea that Judith's maid is an interesting and central part of the story, despite not actually being mentioned as such. Another interesting aspect of this art work is the fact that Judith's maid is depicted as being so young, and also rather beautiful. In fact Judith appears to be older than her maid in this depiction while in others such as Caravaggio's painting Judith's maid appears far older than the very young Judith, and is not taking part in the activity, but rather watching with a look of smug disgust on her face. As well as in Andrea Mantegna's 1495 depiction and Baglione's 1608 depiction.

In relationship to the book, this image is very striking, in that Judith's maid, who in the book was commanded to wait outside, is taking part in the murder.