Academia Aesthetics氏による、旧約のヒロイン、Judithを描いたJules Joseph Lefebvreについて（未訳）

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Judith, by Jules Joseph Lefebvre. A thread: pic.twitter.com/rQZEzZMIj6

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You better not mess with her! The Old Testament heroine Judith succeeded through her courage and cunning in entering the tent of general Holofernes at his camp outside the city of Bethulia.

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There he seduced and beheaded him, thus ending the military threat against her people, and allegedly lifted their low morale by showing the general’s lifeless head to the crowds as a trophy.

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Such a gruesome, bold subject has served as a political statement for some and as feminist icon for others.⁠

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👨‍🎨 Jules Joseph Lefebvre (French, 1836-1911) was a painter, educator, and theorist close to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and inclined towards classical Romanticism. Lefebvre’s work is clean both in aesthetic and meaning, often portraying women from classical sources or national legends standing on their own, representing powerful messages that do not require further unnecessary ornate.

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Like most renowned academicists, Lefebvre was trained in the École des Beaux Arts in Paris with Léon Cogniet as a mentor, and soon started exhibiting abundant portraits in the Parisian Salon. Victorious at the Grand Prix de Rome in 1861, he spent this inspiring time learning about the Old Masters first-hand, and with a strong rivalry with the notorious Bouguereau in the field of the female nude.

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In 1863 the loss of his parents and sister plunged him into a severe depression, after which he returned to Paris with a different vision and approach. He furthered his training at the Académie Julian, known as an alternative to mainstream and the only option that admitted women, an aspect that furthered its distance from academicism.

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Lefebvre would execute his best canvases soon after that experience, still a firm believer in classical artistry against the rising Impressionism, and was named Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 1870.⁠

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What do you think about this?⁠

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