Judith's prayer 

Jean-François Portaels created this print of Judith’s Prayer sometime in the nineteenth century. It depicts a biblical scene of Judith about to slay Holofernes in his tent. Judith’s story has resonated with artists in different times and places, often when they have wished to highlight a female figure who resists male oppression. Portaels, however, was a Belgian Orientalist painter, and the image here participates in a set of stereotypes about the near East that were circulating in Europe at this time. We can see it in the ‘exotic’ costumes and jewelry worn by the women, as well as the dark tent in which the scene is set. It’s worth noting that Portaels himself never traveled to the places he painted, relying instead on photographs and descriptions. We need to be very careful when we look at Orientalist art, as it can reflect some of the colonial attitudes of its time, and the historian’s role is to provide the tools to interpret the image in its full social and institutional context.