Judith, saint or femme fatale? The representation of the heroine of Betulia through the female gaze

The story of Judit has been one of the Old Testament most represented passages in the History of Art, which has resulted in the association of this character with different archetypes of femininity. In the following pages we will investigate from a gender perspective the iconographic reception of the heroine of Betulia by two great painters, Artemisia Gentileschi and Lavinia Fontana, and we will analyze its impact on the construction of femininity over time.