Judith mosaics

OLD TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA WATCH: A tough woman from the 2nd Century BCE (Douglas Todd, The Vancouver Sun).

Metro Vancouver residents still have a couple of weeks to view a fresh feminist perspective on one of the more frequently depicted events of Biblical lore.

The art exhibit, Heroine of a Thousand Pieces: The Judith Mosaics of Lilian Broca, runs until March 31 at the Italian Cultural Centre, 3075 Slocan Street, Vancouver. Following that it will show from May 5 – July 4, 2016 at Columbus Centre in Toronto.

In the exhibit Broca employs glass mosaic to depict scenes related to accounts of Judith’s beheading of the Assyrian general Holofernes, a story found in the apocryphal Book of Judith, probably written about 150 BCE. It’s been the subject of many paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

In the story, Judith, a beautiful Hebrew widow, is able to enter the tent of Holofernes because of his desire for her. Holofernes was about to destroy Judith’s home, the city of Bethulia. Overcome with drink, he passes out and is decapitated by Judith; his head is taken away in a basket.

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Cross file under Decorative Art.