Standing before “Judith at the Gates of Bethulia,” one doesn’t simply appreciate a painting; one confronts a visceral tableau. Artist Jules-Claude Ziegler’s 1847 masterpiece plunges us into the aftermath of Judith’s audacious act, the air thick with victory and horror. Judith emerges from the Assyrian camp, clutching a severed head – not just any head, but that of the fearsome general Holofernes, Bethulia’s tormentor.