Women Heroes of the Hebrew Bible
Getty medievalist Larisa Grollemond shares stories about powerful Biblical women
Initial A: Judith Beheading Holofernes, about 1250-1262, Italian. Tempera and gold leaf, 10 9/16 × 7 3/4 in. Getty Museum, Ms. 107, fol. 189, 2011.23.189
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Think all images of medieval women were damsels in distress? Think again!
Take a look at two women who are celebrated and illuminated in the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament.
Looking to add more strong female leads to your art collection? All of these illuminations can be downloaded for free from Getty's vast Online Collection.
Initial A: Judith with the Head of Holofernes, about 1450, Circle of Stefan Lochner, illuminator. Gold leaf, tempera, and black ink, 14 7/16 × 10 1/4 in. Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig I 13, fol. 165v, 83.MA.62.165v
This is Judith. Heard of her? Here she's brandishing a curved sword and carrying a severed head by the hair. Yes, a severed head.
Initial H: Judith Beheading Holofernes, about 1300, Austrian. Tempera colors and gold leaf, 13 1/2 × 9 9/16 in. Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XIII 1, fol. 211v, 83.MP.144.211v
Here's how that happened according to the Old Testament: When the Assyrian general Holofernes threatened to destroy Israel, the pious widow Judith saved it by beheading Holofernes while he slept.
There she is above, illustrated mid-act in an illumination in a 14th-century scholastic text.
Initial A: Judith Beheading Holofernes, about 1280-1290, Italian. Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink, 4 3/4 × 9 3/4 in. Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig I 11, fol. 217, 83.MA.60.217
This illumination appears in a 13th-century Bible used by a Dominican monastery in northern Italy.
Judith, 1560, Maerten van Heemskerck. Pen and dark brown and light brown ink over black chalk, incised for transfer, 7 13/16 × 9 15/16 in. Getty Museum, 91.GG.17
Here, Judith is depicted at her most heroic. She wears an intricate armored breastplate, a warrior captured mid conquest.
This image appears in a 16th-century collectible series illustrating Good Women of the Old Testament, testimony to her continued relevance in the early modern period.
And Judith isn't the only one.
Initial L: Esther, about 1300, Austrian. Tempera colors and gold leaf, 13 1/2 × 9 9/16 in. Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XIII 1 (83.MP.144), fol. 219
This is Esther, shown here as a queen.
According to Biblical narrative, King Ahasuerus of Persia rejected his wife to marry the beautiful Jewish maiden Esther.
Now a queen, Esther discovered a plot to destroy the Jewish people and convinced her husband to intervene on their behalf.
Initial I: Esther before King Ahasuerus and the Offended Queen Vashti, about 1280-1290, Italian. Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink, 14 3/4 × 9 3/4 in. Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig I 11, fol. 222v, 83.MA.60.222v
Esther was, and still is today, celebrated on the Jewish holiday of Purim. Here’s an image of her appearing before the king.
Want more stories from the Middle Ages from Getty medievalist Larisa Grollemond? Head to our Instagram page.
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