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GENTILESCHI, Artemisia: Judith and Her Maidservant

🖼 Judith and Her Maidservant, 1614-20
Oil on canvas
114 × 93.5 cm
Florence, Italy

Candlelit darkness frames Judith and her maid as they clutch Holofernes's severed head, their faces tense with urgency. Gentileschi's visceral realism transforms the biblical heroine into a complex avenger, challenging male artistic tradition through her unflinching female perspective.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
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