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Letter to the Editor
‘There will be blood’. Differences in the pictorial representation of
the arterial spurt of blood in Caravaggio and followers
Keywords:
Blood spurt
Art
Caravaggio
The theme of the beheading of Holofernes by Judith is one of
the most frequently painted biblical scenes [1]. Famous painters such
as Mantegna (1431–1506), Michelangelo (1475–1564), Botticelli
(1445–1510) and Klimt (1862–1918) depicted the same scene. Never-
theless, only few artists, namely, Caravaggio (1571–1610), Artemisia
Gentileschi (1593–1693), Louis Finson (1580–1617) and an unknown
artist, whose canvas was recently discovered in Toulouse, painted the
actual action of beheading.
Here we analyse a specific anatomical feature –the arterial spurt of
blood –and show a modification in its pictorialrepresentation between
the end of the 16thcentury and beginningof the 17th century. We spec-
ulate that the change in trajectory of the arterial spurt of blood from
rectilinear to parabolic can be linked to the acquisition of new scientific
knowledge.
Beheading was a recurrent subject in Caravaggio. He painted the
scene vibrantly focusing specifically on the facial expression of the
beheaded and on the arterial spurt of blood. In his masterpiece “Judith
beheading Holofernes”(1599), the trajectory of the spurt of blood is
rectilinear (Fig. 1A).
Artemisia Gentileschi depicted the beheading of Holofernes twice. In
the 1612 painting, no spurt of blood can be discerned whereas, in the sec-
ond canvas (ca. 1620), it follows a parabolic trajectory (Fig. 1B). Similarly,
both Louis Finson (ca. 1607) (Fig. 1C) and the unknown painter of the
“Toulouse canvas”(Fig. 1D) depicted a parabolic arterial spurt of blood.
According to the “theory of projectile motion”proposed by Galileo
Galilei (1564–1642) in ca.1604–1608 [2,3] whenan object or a particle –
European Journal of Internal Medicine xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
EJINME-03250; No of Pages 2
Fig. 1. “Judithbeheading Holofernes”.A. Michelangelo Merisi,named Caravaggio. 1599 (Barberini Palace,Rome, Italy) (pergentile concessionedel Ministerodei Beni e delle Attivita'Culturali e
del Turismo - Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica di Roma, Palazzo Barberini). B. Artemisia Gentileschi. ca. 1620 (Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy) (Su concessione del Ministero dei Beni e delle
Attivitàculturali e del Turismo). C. Louis Finson. ca. 1607(Collezione IntesaSanpaolo, ZevallosPalace, Neaples, Italy) (per gentile concessione Archivio AttivitàCulturali, Intesa Sanpaolo).
D. Unknown painter. Undated (presently Louvre Museum, Paris, France). (CharlesPlatiau/Reuters/Contrasto)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejim.2016.06.010
0953-6205/© 2016 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
European Journal of Internal Medicine
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ejim
Please cite this article as: Perciaccante A, et al, ‘There will be blood’. Differences in the pictorial representation of the arterial spurt of blood in
Caravaggio and followers, Eur J Intern Med (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejim.2016.06.010
called a projectile –is thrown near the earth's surface, it moves along a
curved path (a parabola) under the action of gravity [3].
When Caravaggio painted “Judith beheading Holofernes”(1599),
the law of projectile motion had yet to be announced. Therefore, the tra-
jectory ofthe carotid spurt of blood was drawn in a rectilinear way. Con-
versely, in paintings by Gentileschi, Finson and the painter of the
“Toulouse canvas”, the trajectory was suddenly transformed into a
parabola. Therefore, we hypothesise that, when the latter painters
depicted “Judith and Holofernes”, they were already familiar with the
theory of projectile motion. From a forensic perspective, variations in
the angle and topographic site of the neck wound made by a blade (at
the carotid site) do not justify a difference in the trajectory of the arterial
spurt [4]. There exists an enduring relationship within science and art
with both testing theories and hypotheses. Here we show that newly
acquired scientific knowledge is mirrored in the artistic representation
of the carotid spurt of blood. Art depicting the evolution of medical
knowledge throughout time represents, in turn, a powerful a guidebook
to physicians (e.g. Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical tables). Lastly, our re-
flections may provide new scientific insights into the attribution and
timing of the “Toulouse canvas”.
Conflict of interest statement
The authors state that they have no conflicts of interest.
References
[1] Libro di Giuditta. In: Edimedia, editor. Confe renza Episcopale Italiana “La Sac ra
Bibbia”;2015[Roma,Italia].
[2] Naylor RH. Galileo's theory of projectile motion. Isis 1980;71(4):550–70.
[3] Danerow P, Freudenthal G, MC Laughlin P, Renn J. Exploring the limits of Preclassical
mechanisms. Springer Sciences & Business Media; 2013.
[4] Camana F. Determi ning the area of convergence in bloodstain pattern analysis:
a probabilistic approach. Forensic Sci Int 2013;231(1–3):131–6.
A. Perciaccante
Department of Medicine, “San Giovanni di Dio”Hospital, Gorizia, Italy
Corresponding author at: “SanGiovannidiDio”Hospital, Department of
Medicine, via Fatebenefratelli, 34, 34170 Gorizia, Italy.
Tel.: +39 0481 592069; fax: +39 0481 592074.
E-mail address: antonioperciaccante@libero.it.
P. Charlier
Section of Medical and Forensic Anthropology (UVSQ & Paris-Descartes
University EA 4569), Montigny-Le-Bretonneux, France
CASH, Nanterre, France
A. Coralli
Department of Surgery, “San Giovanni decollato —Andosilla”Hospital,
Civita Castellana, Italy
R. Bianucci
Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, Legal Medicine Section,
University of Turin, Italy
UMR 7268, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Bio-culturelle, Droit, Etique &
Santé (Adés), Faculté de Médecine de Marseille, France
8 June 2016
Available online xxxx
2Letter to the Editor
Please cite this article as: Perciaccante A, et al, ‘There will be blood’. Differences in the pictorial representation of the arterial spurt of blood in
Caravaggio and followers, Eur J Intern Med (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejim.2016.06.010
