Judith Beheading Holofernes

Out of both these paintings, the one that stood out to me more was by Artemisia Gentilesch.  If I were to guess, I would never guess this painting was painted by a woman.  It is very gruesome, but woman had strong feelings back then about their freedom, so in reality this picture makes sense for a woman to paint it.  I really like the contrast of dark to light.  The light is mainly shown on the woman and the guy having his head cut off which is the whole point of this painting. This painting has a strong meaning to it which made it stand out to me even more.