Caravaggios Judith und Holofernes: Phänomenologische Bemerkungen über die bildliche Erzählung

Caravaggio’s Judith and Holofernes demonstrates a phenomenologically relevant aspect of pictorial narrative. On the one hand, each part can only be understood if it is arranged in a temporally extended narrative. On the other hand, the fixity of the moment it presents to the viewer is essential. It is a duality that characterises pictorial narrative and, in this painting, proves essential to understanding its subject: a first-person narrative of death.