Darcy Gould Sculpture

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Judith With The Head of Holofernes

30.5 Inches Tall 24 Inches Wide 77 cm Tall 61 cm Wide Artist Proof Edition of 9 2020

This piece is from a Biblical theme that was very popular in the Renaissance and the Baroque period. Most of the Old Masters did a version of it. I think it was lucrative. Michelangelo did a painting of it on the Sistene Chapel ceiling. Many other notable artists throughout history were intrigued by this story and created both sculptures and paintings based on it. The story goes like this ; Sometime in the 6th century BC the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzer sent his general Holofernes to subdue a rebellious Isrealite city. Pretty soon Holofernes had the place surrounded and he was about to accomplish this. Judith was a beautiful woman who lived in that city; she knew that Holofernes was going to destroy her city, she also knew that he desired her. So she went to his camp at night with her maid, to his tent, seduced him, got him drunk, talked him into sending his guards away and when he fell asleep she cut his head off. The two women carried his head home in a bag and in the morning she showed Holofernes severed head ,( which she held by the hair ) , to the Babylonian army. Upon seeing their leaders severed head the Babylonians all freaked out and ran away. Or something like that, the story varies a bit after 2.5 Millenia.