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“Holofernes and his personal servants were pleased with what Judith had said, and they admired her wisdom.
She must be the wisest and most beautiful woman in the world, they commented one to another.”
— Book of Judith 11:20“Then Judith raised the sword and struck him twice in the neck as hard as she could, chopping off his head.
She rolled his body off the bed and took down the mosquito net from the bedposts. Then she came out and gave Holofernes’ head to her slave, who put it in the food bag.”
— Book of Judith 13:8
The Book of Judith is a sometimes-included part of the Old Testament, that tells of a beautiful and cunning Jewish widow that charmed and beheaded an invading general, saving her town from a certain destruction.
Gustav Klimt, who is more known for painting one of the most iconic kisses in the history of art, has painted his “Judith and the Head of Holofernes” right in the middle of his “Golden Period”.
His vision of an orgasmically flushed Judith as she picks up the newly liberated head of Holofernes, differs greatly from how this famous moment has ever been painted before.
