Photos

Judith and Holofernes

When I took these pictures ten years ago, I only knew it was Judith but I’ve never been sure about the part of the epic story these images belong to. This Judith is not Caravaggio’s disgusted girl doing what she is supposed to do, regardless of how barbaric it looks in contrast with her refined facial features.

Judith Beheading Holofernes
1599 by Caravaggio
https://www.caravaggio.org/judith-beheading-holofernes.jsp#

This Judith is not Gentileschi’s feminist self-empowering statement, reflecting her victory over a cruel past. It’s not the sexualized Judith Klimt depicts, inviting you to celebrate or maybe even be the next head she puts aside and out of the frame.

Judith Beheading Holofernes
Artemisia Gentileschi (Rome 1593 – Naples 1652/53)
https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/judith-beheading-holofernes

My Judith is found lonely, doubtful, not so much about what she has to do but what she’ll have to live with after her decision is made. This Judith is used to this Holofernes and he is so used to her, sleeping like a peachy newborn in her arms. This is not a scene of pre-war one night stand where the invasor takes advantage of a widow. This is a couple, a marriage, where decapitation, so many times, is an allegoric mockery, an escape, a truth that oozes through the strong bars of commitment and pillars of love, of the “forever and always”, of the long-forgotten first kiss.

Judith and the Head of Holofernes, 1901 by Gustav Klimt
https://www.gustav-klimt.com/Judith-and-the-Head-of-Holofernes.jsp#prettyPhoto

My Judith, lonely but in company, plays with her fingers while ordering her thoughts, with Holofernes’ face as the landscape of her immediate past and somewhat forgotten future. Observed from a godly cenital perspective, the crimson-blood streams of the great Baroque masters, are replaced by royal purple and blue of this Judith, widow only to her past. The cameos on her bracelet are nothing more than solid colors and unlike Gentileschi’s Artemisia, this Judith bears Khronos.

This week, many will be widows and I’m sure many would gladly decapitate the double-headed eagle if they could.


See in portfolio.

Judith and Holofernes 1
Judith and Holofernes 1 by Ean Kotard, 2012
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eankotard/51898715873/in/dateposted/
Judith and Holofernes 2
Judith and Holofernes 2 by Ean Kotard, 2012
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eankotard/51897664362/in/dateposted/
Judith and Holofernes 3
Judith and Holofernes 3 by Ean Kotard, 2012
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eankotard/51897664302/in/dateposted/

Published by Ean Kotard

Artist, currently working from Spring, Texas.