MrScorpio
"Judith and Holofernes" is the title of the painting, so there's no mistake as to what the subject matter is about. It's in the GAWD DAMNED BIBLE! You'd think that a gaggle of right wing nut jobs would figure out that the painting came out of a biblical scenario, right?
USA4MEhas it right. The Book of Judith will not be found in Bibles used in most Protestant churches (the Anglican Communion would be an exception). It wasn't until the 1546 Council of Trent that Judith (and other deuterocanonical writings) was dogmatically accepted as canonical by the Catholic Church. For the sake of a chronological reference point, Martin Luther died in 1546.
In other words, were MrCorpulent to waddle into an Evangelical or Fundamentalist church full of "right wing nut jobs" he would not find the Book of Judith in their "GAWD DAMNED BIBLES", and if he asked about it the only ones likely to have a clue what he's talking about would be those who had been Catholics or had perused a Catholic Bible (like me).
But let's compare the story of Judith (it's not historical) with Wiley's paintings. Judith was a beautiful widow, and Israel was beset by the Assyrians. Judith used her feminine wiles to get into the confidence (but not bed) of Holofernes. Once she gains his trust, she hacks off his head at night and quickly and quietly returns with it to her Israelite city. The Assyrians, seeing their general beheaded, fled. With that quickie summary:
* Jews and Assyrians (or Babylonians) are ethnically similar, separated by time and geography; in Wiley's paintings, the "Judith" figure is black, and the "Holofernes" character is white;
* In the Book of Judith, Judith is a woman and Holofernes is a man; in Wiley's paintings, "Judith" and "Holofernes" are both women;
* Judith's return with the head of Holofernes was secretly and at night (traditional paintings of the story depict her return as being in darkness); in Wiley's paintings the scene is fully lit (this is a minor thing, but it is a departure from the story and traditional paintings that are the supposed inspiration).
Assign whatever percentage of "inspiration" you will to the Book of Judith and older paintings, the departures from the story in Wiley's paintings show an intent to depict whites as blacks' deadly enemies, and white women in particular to be the enemies of black women.
It should not take that much explanation, but no matter how deeply one consider's those two paintings by Wiley, they are clearly (to those willing to admit it) racist.