rivista di studi italiani 1156 inediti the evolution and transformation of

RIVISTA DI STUDI ITALIANI
INEDITI
THE EVOLUTION AND TRANSFORMATION OF THE
JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES THEME
IN ITALIAN DRAMA AND ART BEFORE 1627
(SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS)
by
FRANK CAPOZZI
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the
Requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Italian)
At the
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN – MADISON
1975
© FRANK CAPOZZI 1975
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FRANK CAPOZZI
SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
T
his dissertation was written under the supervision of Associate
Professor Dr. Robert J. Rodini
Through many transformations and interpretations of the dramatic
elements of the apocryphal story of Judith and Holofernes, the biblical tale has
become part of our cultural heritage and has exerted a profound influence on
the creative spirit of writers and artists throughout the centuries.
The Book of Judith is divided into four major sections: Nebuchadnezzar’s
wars of aggression, with the description of the splendor and the cruelty of the
Orient; the siege of Bethulia by the proud Holofernes and the sufferings of the
people; Judith’s deceitful beguiling of Holofernes and the decapitation of the
general; the triumphal return of Judith to Bethulia and the defeat of the
Assyrian army. The story of Judith contains all the elements of a mythical
event: the heroine is called to perform a dangerous deed; she is swallowed by
the dangerous unknown, Holofernes’ tent; she is granted the supernatural
assistance of God; she accomplishes her mission and safely returns to
Bethulia. Writers have capitalized on one or more of these dramatic moments
in order to express religious, patriotic, or social ideas, while artists have
usually limited their works to the most dramatic event, the killing of
Holofernes, or to the return of Judith to Bethulia.
This study is an attempt to analyze the development and the
transformation of the biblical story of Judith in Italian drama and art before
1627. Before the middle of the sixteenth-century, Judith is portrayed as a
moral and religious heroine, a prefiguration of Mary and of the Church, and as
a political heroine (Sacra rappresentazione di Judith). During the year of the
Council of Trent and soon afterwards the heroine becomes a vehicle for
religious propaganda—the defender of the Catholic Church against
Protestantism (Stefano Tuccio’s Juditha), or for social comments—an attack
against some of the problems of the sixteenth-century society (Cesare
Sacchetti’s Rappresentazione di Giudith). In the tragedies written between
1580 and 1625 (Giovanni Andrea Ploti’s Giuditta, Giovanni Battista Alberti’s
Oloferne, and Giovanni Angelo Lottini’s Giudetta) the heroine is portrayed as
a mannered character coping with contradictions between impulsive passion
and political commitment. In Federico Della Valle’s tragedy Judith is the
heroine who rises above court intrigues and false passions; and the biblical
story becomes for the author a means to condemn the corruption of the courts.
As in literature, in art there is also an evolution in the interpretation of the
figure of Judith. In medieval paintings and manuscript illustrations Judith is
usually portrayed as an allegorical prefiguration of the Church or Mary, while
during the Renaissance the heroine becomes a symbol, especially in Florence,
of republicanism (the woman who single-handedly fought for freedom against
tyranny—Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes). During the Early Baroque
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
period (c. 1580-1625) the biblical story becomes a vehicle for highly dramatic
action (Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi) or for dazzling opulence (Fede
Galizia, Antiveduto Gramatica, Tintoretto).
The story of Judith and Holofernes is a mythical representation of
mankind being lost in a world without God, of the destruction of evil through
the self-abnegation of a woman and the intercession of God, and of mankind’s
search for peace, both political and religious.
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FRANK CAPOZZI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
T
he illlustrations have been downloaded from various Internet sites (not
copyrighted, and in public domain).
Fig. 1 Woodcut from La Rapprefentatione di Judith hebrea. Nouamente
Riftampata. In Firenze, Presso alla Badia, l’Anno 1568. Reprinted in Erhard
Lommatzsch: Beiträge zur Älteren Italienischen Volksdichtung.
Untersuchungen und Texte. Band IV: Ein Vierter Wolfenbütteler
Sammelband. 2. Teil: Sacre Rappresentazioni. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag,
1963. I would like to thank the staff of the Premium Services of The New
York Public Library for a copy of the rappresentazione.
Fig. 1 Giovanni Antonio da Brescia, Judith with the Head of Holofernes,
1490s, engraving, 316 x 255 mm. London, British Museum.
Fig. 2 Ghiberti, “Judith,” detail from the Gates of Paradise, 1437-52, bronze
with gilding. Florence, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.
Fig. 3 Botticelli, Discovery of the Corpse of Holofernes, c. 1472, tempera on
panel, 31 x 25 cm. Florence, Uffizi.
Fig. 4 Botticelli, Judith with the Head of Holofernes (The Return of Judith),
c. 1472, tempera on panel, 31 x 24 cm. Florence, Uffizi.
Fig. 5 Donatello, Judith, 1475-64, bronze, 236 cm (without base). Firenze,
Palazzo Vecchio, Sala dei Gigli.
Fig. 6 Mantegna, Judith holding the Head of Holofernes, c. 1495-1500,
tempera on poplar, 30.1 x 18.1 cm. Washington, National Gallery of Art.
Fig. 7 Mantegna, Judith holding Holofernes’ Head, c. 1495-1500, drawing.
Fig. 8 Unknown Italian Master, Judith, 1500s, tempera on panel, 77 x 45 cm.
Siena, Collezione Chigi Saraceni.
Fig. 9 Botticelli, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, c. 1500, panel, 36.5 x
20 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
Fig. 10 Giorgione, Judith, 1504, oil on canvas, transferred from panel, 144 x
66.5 cm. St. Petersburg, The Hermitage.
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 11 Michelangelo Buonarroti, Judith and Holofernes, 1509, fresco, 570
x970 cm. Vatican, Sistine Chapel.
Fig. 12 Lorenzo Lotto, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1512, oil on
panel, 20 x 15 cm. Rome, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro.
Fig. 13 Tiziano, Judith, c. 1515, oil on canvas, 90 x 72 cm. Rome, Galleria
Doria Pamphilj.
Fig. 14 Vincenzo Catena, Judith, 1520-25, oil on panel, 82 x 65 cm. Venice,
Fondazione Querini Stampalia.
Fig. 15 Palma Vecchio, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1525-28, oil on
canvas, 90 x 71 cm. Florence, Uffizi.
Fig. 16 Lorenzo Sabatini, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, c. 1562, oil on
canvas, 110 x 85 cm. Bologna, Banca del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna.
Fig. 17 Tintoretto, Judith and Holofernes, c. 1579, oil on canvas, 188 x 251
cm. Madrid, Museo del Prado.
Fig. 18 Fede Galizia, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1596, oil on
canvas, 120 x 94 cm. Sarasota, Ringling Museum of Art.
Fig. 19 Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1597-1599, oil on canvas,
145 x 195 cm. Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte.
Fig. 20 Lavinia Fontana, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1600, oil on
canvas, 130 x 110 cm. Bologna, Museo Davia Bargellini.
Fig. 21 Giuseppe Cesari, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1605-1610, oil
on canvas, 61.3 x 48 cm. Berkeley, Berkeley Art Museum, University of
California.
Fig. 22 Giovanni Baglione, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1608, oil on
canvas. Rome, Galleria Borghese.
Fig. 23 Cristofano Allori, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1619-1620, oil
on canvas, 139 x 116 cm. Florence, Pitti.
Fig. 24 Orazio Gentileschi, Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of
Holofernes, 1610-12, oil on canvas, 127 x 147 cm. Hartford, Wadsworth
Atheneum.
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Fig. 25 Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and Her Maidservant, c. 1613-14, oil on
canvas, 114 x 93.5 cm. Florence, Palazzo Pitti.
Fig. 26 Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, c, 1620, oil on
canvas, 199 x 162.5 cm. Florence, Uffizi.
Fig. 27 Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of
Holofernes, c. 1625, oil on canvas. Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts.
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 1 Woodcut with four scenes of Judith: going to the Assyrian camp, the
decapitation of Holofernes, the return to Bethulia, Holofernes’ head on the
walls of the city, from La Rappresentazione di Judith Hebrea.
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Fig. 2 Giovanni Antonio da Brescia, Judith with the Head of Holofernes
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 3 Ghiberti, Judith.
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Fig. 4 Botticelli, Discovery of the Corpse of Holofernes.
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 5 Botticelli, Judith with the Head of Holofernes (The Return of Judith)
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Fig. 6 Donatello, Judith and Holofernes.
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 7 Mantegna, Judith with the Head of Holofernes.
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Fig. 8 Mantegna, Judith holding the Head of Holofernes.
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 9 Unknown Italian Master, Judith with the Head of Holofernes
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Fig. 10 Botticelli, Judith with the Head of Holofernes.
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 11 Giorgione, Judith.
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Fig. 12 Michelangelo, Judith and Holofernes.
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 13 Lotto, Judith with the Head of Holofernes.
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Fig. 14 Titian, Judith.
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 15 Catena, Judith.
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Fig. 16 Palma Vecchio, Judith.
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 17 Sabatini, Judith with the head of Holofernes.
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Fig. 18 Tintoretto, Judith and Holofernes
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 19 Galizia, Judith with the Head of Holofernes.
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Fig. 20 Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes.
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 21 Fontana, Judith with the Head of Holofernes.
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Fig. 22 Cesari, Judith with the Head of Holofernes.
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 23 Baglione, Judith with the Head of Holofernes.
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Fig. 24 Allori, Judith with the Head of Holofernes.
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig.25 Orazio Gentileschi, Judith and Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes.
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.
Fig. 26 Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and Her Maidservant.
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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 27Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes.
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Fig. 28 Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes
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