There’s something scintillating about seeing Artemisia Gentileschi’s image of Judith Slaying Holofernes, a biblical scene also depicted by Caravaggio and other male artists of the Baroque era, and realizing that this c. 1620 painting of a robust, ruthless Judith mercilessly and dutifully slicing the head from Assyrian general Holofernes was painted by a 20-something-year-old woman. If you don’t know the story behind the painting, Holofernes is about to ransack Judith’s city, but he drinks too much before the siege, allows beautiful Judith to enter his tent thinking it’ll be a good time, and Judith cuts off his head while he’s drunk. It’s kind of a lovely feminist twinkle in the Bible if you ask me. What’s so special about Artemisia’s work, (besides finding a well-known woman artist of this era being like finding a needle in a haystack) is the strength and brutality of Judith. Many other works depicting the theme portray Judith as a seductive, demure or more delicate beauty, but Artemisia went really Rosie the Riveter with her Judith, giving her impressive arms that hold Holofernes down while she violently saws off his head, him writhing and blood spurting everywhere. 

My Judith Slaying Holofernes Necklace is a nod to the gruesome, powerful scene by Artemisia, with Holofernes’ severed head above two daggers and a garnet drop of blood. The cast bronze or sterling silver pendant hangs from an 18-inch 14K gold-filled or sterling silver chain and is accented with a flat-cut, teardrop-shaped garnet (also the January birthstone if that’s your month).