The story of the widow Judith who is captured by the Babylonian general Holofernes is one of the biblical books now largely considered to be apocryphal. It is a famous story, often summarised in art by the depiction of how Judith decapitates the drunk and sleeping general, helped by her maid. Some of the most famous paintings of Judith have been executed by artists such as Caravaggio and Botticelli, and we are today perhaps most familiar with the various renditions from the Renaissance and early Baroque. But there is also a wealth of depictions from medieval bibles, portraying the resolute widow with all the intensity and vivacity you could want in a picture. As these medieval illuminations are less well known, at least to a general audience, I have here compiled a very small gallery with images taken from this website, to give you a taste of the gory good stuff of medieval Judith.
Arles - BM - ms. 0001, f.217v, third quarter of the thirteenth century
(Courtesy of enluminures.culture.fr)
Amiens - BM - ms. 0108, f.144, Bible, Northern Spain, 1197
(Courtesy of enluminures.culture.fr)
Alençon - BM - ms. 0054, f.152, Bible, c.1240-50
(Courtesy of enluminures.culture.fr)
Autun - BM - ms. S 197, f179v, Bible, North-Eastern Italy, thirteenth century
(Courtesy of enluminures.culture.fr)
Beaune - BM - ms.0023, f.169, Bible, c.1270-80
(Courtesy of enluminures.culture.fr)
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