***This series highlights the similarities between art historical figures and their modern-day pop culture counterparts.  Part 4 features a closer look at Judith and Buffy Summers.***

“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” – Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

This phrase was taken from Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s 1976 article on Puritan funeral services. However, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian wasn’t suggesting that a woman had to be unruly or disruptive to be included in the history books. She was simply making an observation that historians, more often than not, choose to exclude the ordinary women who make positive impacts on society. She was fighting for the acknowledgment of the positive changes made by the everyday, ordinary woman.

Such is the case for Judith and Buffy, two seemingly ordinary women who make incredibly positive impacts on their hometowns. Sure, one could argue that Judith was driven by a divine purpose to save her people and that Buffy, as a slayer, was the “chosen one” of her generation. The truth is, both women not only stood up to the evil that was oppressing their hometowns, they fought back… and they looked fabulous doing it!

In Part 4 of this series, we discuss the similarities of two slayers – Judith and Buffy. One slayed an Assyrian general named Holofernes and the other slayed vampires. You can watch the video by following this link…

Below you can find all the artwork referenced in the video you just watched…

Notice that in the first three paintings that each artist puts their own spin on the story of Judith slaying Holofernes. In the Damini painting, we see a Judith in ecstasy and looking to the heavens. The Cairo painting depicts Judith as bold and defiantly objective in her mission. She even looks out from the painting and directly at us, the viewer! The Galizia Judith smirks at how easy it was to defeat the notorious general. Interestingly, the third painting was created by a female artist and her signature can be found on the blade in Judith’s hand.

We see that Artemisia Gentileschi repeatedly ages the maidservant down quite a few years so that she appears to be nearly the same age as Judith. She also plays a more active role in the story, often assisting in the beheading and in the recovery of Holofernes’ severed head.

Do you think you have what it takes to be a “slayer?” Do you feel your wardrobe is “fashion forward” enough to fight evil? Leave you thoughts below!