Johann LISS,
Judith in the tent of Holofernes,
c.1622

The subject of this painting is taken from the Apocryphal book of Judith, an Old Testament Jewish heroine from the town of Bethula, who was iconic in the struggle against the oppression of her people. The Assyrian army had seized her town in a bid to destroy it, and the story tells of Judith penetrating the camp of their general Holofernes, by pretending to offer some assistance in the siege of the city. Captivated by Judith, Holofernes plans a banquet to win her affections. Judith teases the general, whilst ensuring that he becomes suitable inebriated. Once asleep, Judith takes Holofernes’ sword and cuts of his head. This painting shows the moment after this, when her maidservant Abra, assists her in carrying the general’s head.

As with many depictions of Judith, Abra is a key component to the scene, and in the story it is Abra who puts the head of Holofernes into a sack before they leave to return to Bethulia.
In most paintings Abra is placed in a contrast to Judith – she is either older or fairer or in this case, black. Liss puts Abra in the shadow of Judith’s emasculated body and in doing so she is placed in literal darkness. It’s worth exploring the metaphor’s linked to this contrast, in conjunction with the act they have just committed.

Even though she is hidden and submerged in the folds of Judith’s sleeve, her intense focus on Judith’s face, which looks at the viewer in triumphant satisfaction, ensures that the viewer is aware she is connected with Judith in this act of liberation.

The dramatic opposition of dark and light tone in the painting (chiaroscuro), mirror the opposition of ideas within the scene - virtue and sin, entrapment and liberation, conflict and the restoration of peace. In many ways these opposites are invested in the bodies of Abra and Judith, where Abra could be read as a visual reflection of Judith’s dark side. This is added to by the similarity in the headdresses of the two women, which links them. Moreover, as her maidservant, Abra is an unequal party in this relationship, and could be seen as the oppressed in the power relationship between the two women. Hence Judith becomes at once a captor and liberator.

The viewer is included in this visual balancing act, as Judith marks her victory with a content glance completing the circle of spectatorship - Abra looks to Judith, Judith looks at us, and we look back at them.

link to National Gallery site