RIVISTA DI STUDI ITALIANI

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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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SUMMARY AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

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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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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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

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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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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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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Fig. 3 Ghiberti, Judith.

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Fig. 4 Botticelli, Discovery of the Corpse of Holofernes.

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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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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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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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Fig. 11 Giorgione, Judith.

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Fig. 12 Michelangelo, Judith and Holofernes.

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Fig. 13 Lotto, Judith with the Head of Holofernes.

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Fig. 14 Titian, Judith.

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Fig. 15 Catena, Judith.

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Fig. 16 Palma Vecchio, Judith.

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Fig. 17 Sabatini, Judith with the head of Holofernes.

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Fig. 18 Tintoretto, Judith and Holofernes

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Fig. 19 Galizia, Judith with the Head of Holofernes.

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Fig. 20 Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes.

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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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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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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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Fig. 27 Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes.

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Fig. 28 Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes