Museum Essay #1

Judith with the Head of Holofernes (1530)

         The Martrydrom of Saint Barbara (1510)

       Through out the Metropolitan Museum I saw many priceless works of art. Between the Roman sculptures to the modern art paintings, the museum was a playground to the viewers eye. For my essay I chose two paintings both by artist Luca Cranach the Elder. I chose these two piece because as soon as I stepped into the room they automatically caught my eye. 

       In Lucas Cranach the Elder’s, Judith with the Head of Holofernes (created 1530), you can see a woman holding the head of a beheaded man and in his other painting, The Martyrdrom of Saint Barbara (created 1510) you can see a woman about to be beheaded. The story behind Judith with the Head of Holofernes is that Judith seduced her enemy, Holofernes who was the general of Assyrian, with her flirtatious appeal. She killed him with his own sword because he had sieged her city. In Cranach’s painting The Martrydrom of Saint Barbara the artist portrayed the story of Saint Barbara being executed by her father Dioscorus because she refused to recant her Christian faith.

       In Judith with the Head of Holofernes you can see the that the artist used a lot of warm colors. You can see the orange tone in her dress along with her necklace and the chained rope that wraps around her neck and shoulders down through the side of her upper body. The artist used deep shades of red to show the gruesome scene of Holofernes head being cut apart from his body by Judith. The artist also incorporated patterns into his painting, he used a patterns on her dress. From the quilted orange pattern going across the top of her dress to the swirls going down the elaborate sleeves of her dress. You can also see the light shinning across her face. Her pale skin is highlighted by the light come through the left side. The faces in the painting tell two different stories, on Holofernes face you can see the pain and dreariness in his eyes while in Judith’s face you can see her smiling from her triumph. 

       In The Martydrom of Saint Barbara, the artist incorporated warm colors and pattern into the clothing the people are wearing. Saint Barbara’s bright red dress has sleeves and in those sleeves you can see the fine gold intricate details. Dioscorcus clothing is much more extravagant and luxurious from his hat down to his shoes. His big red elaborate sleeves with gold can catch the viewers and draw the eyes to look at the way he is pulling on Saint Barbara’s hair. The one man that stand on the left side of Dioscorus wears an extravagant robe, at a glance you can see that this man posses power and wealth. While the other three men on the left side of the painting seem as if they are guards and workers for Dioscorus. All three men are seen looking up almost as if they are looking up to God and asking him for forgiveness. The look on Saint Barbara’s face is a somber one, her eyes stray away from the painting and she seems to calmly accept her fate. You can see the depth in this painting as well. In the far back you can see a castle above in the mountains.  

       Both of these painting posses some on the same qualities such as the fact that they are both somewhat realistic paintings, they both share most of the same colors, and they both portray the same message of someone being beheaded. They both however have several differences such as one of the painting having depth while the other was more of a portrait.