Originally told in the Book of Judith, Judith was a beautiful resourceful Israelite widow at the time when the Israelites were occupied by the Assyrians. With her maid she went to the camp of the Assyrian leader, General Holofernes, where she ingratiated herself while promising secret intel about her countrymen. Once she had gotten close enough to the general, she entered his tent one night while he was drunk and cut off his head and brought the head back to her countrymen. Fearful at the loss of their leader, the Assyrians dispersed and Israel was saved.
The painting by Klimt shows Judith carrying the head of Holofernes, thought the head in left in the lower right corner of the painting, allowing us to instead focus on Judith. She is wearing a flowing veil that unveils more than it covers, thus exposing her naked breast. Her eyes are half closed and her lips slightly parted, given the impression of almost sexual satisfaction with her deed. Klimt’s Judith is indeed a femme fatale, a vamp before that expression was ever invented.
Judith’s veil and the background meanwhile feature the gold and symbols that became Klimt’s trademark.
Judith I by Klimt is in the collection of Österreichische Galerie in Vienna, Austria.
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