Judith II

Santa Croce

Judith II
This work by Klimt, the great protagonist of the Viennese secession, picks up on and enhances the theme of Judith, a subject he had already used in a 1901 painting now in Vienna. Tightly squeezed into the frame and surrounded by arabesque decoration, the sinuous figure of the Biblical heroine holds the head of Holofernes by the hair, becoming a symbol of the power of female seduction.