Judith
Édouard Frédéric Wilhelm Richter
1877
Richter captures the biblical heroine Judith in the quiet, exhausting aftermath of her most famous deed. Standing barefoot on an animal skin, she looks weary rather than triumphant, her sheer blouse and heavy gold jewelry hinting at the exotic setting of the Assyrian camp. The curved sword lying on the ground, tipped with a splash of red, tells the gruesome story of how she beheaded the general Holofernes to save her people. Unlike earlier dramatic depictions of the act itself, this 1877 Academic masterpiece focuses on the psychological weight of the moment, leaving the viewer to imagine the tension that just passed.
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