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Old Masters to 19th Century
Vincent Sellaer, "Judith and the Head of Holfernes"
The location: The tent of Holfernes, General of the Assyrian Armed Forces. The background: A city in siege. In the center of the painting Judith holds a great sword, dripping blood, but her grasp is light and delicate, as if she is holding a flower and not a fatal weapon. Her face and the movement of her head symbolize modesty and tenderness, while her revealing body is like a marble statuette. To the left is the headless corpse of Holfernes, and on the right - Judith's maidservant holding a sack, into which the decapitated head of the Commander will be thrown.
The Book of Judith was included in the apocryphal writings and was probably written in the Hasmonean era. It tells the story of how Nebuchadnezzar, King of Assyria, sent his captain of the guard Holferenes to lead a disciplinary expedition to the land of Israel and its environs. The Assyrians attached one of the cities and after a month of seige the Elders of the city decided to surrender to the enemy. Judith, a young and beautiful widow, resolved to save the city. She arrived with her maidservant at the camp of Holfernes, seduced him over drink, and while he was sleeping, took his sword and cut off his head. A commotion broke out in the camp and the Israelites took advantage of the opportunity and won, chasing the enemy from their land.
The story of Judith reappears in many works of art, from different points of view: as a political allegory of the victory of the weak over the powerful or the overcoming of a tyrant's rule; or as an excuse to deal in erotica, in the nude figure of Judith, while Christian symbolism depicts Judith as the Militant Church, fighting the powers of evil.
Vincent Sellaer lived in Flanders in the 16th century, and specialized in the painting of nude women, such as Cleopatra, Suzanna, Leda and Judith.
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