Portrait of Artemisia Gentileschi, by an unknown artist, c. 1614-1620.

Overview of this website:

rtemisia Gentileschi (1593 - 1652/1653), daughter of well-known Roman artist, Orazio Gentileschi (1563 - 1639), was one of the first women artists to achieve recognition in the male-dominated world of post-Renaissance art. In an era when female artists were limited to portrait painting and imitative poses, she was the first woman to paint major historical and religious scenarios.

Born in Rome in 1593, she received her early training from her father, but after art academies rejected her, she continued study under a friend of her father, Agostino Tassi.

In 1612, her father brought suit against Tassi for raping Artemisia. There followed a highly publicised seven-month trial. This event makes up the central theme of a controversial French film, Artemisia (1998), directed by Agnes Merlet.

The trauma of the rape and trial impacted on Artemisia's painting. Her graphic depictions were cathartic and symbolic attempts to deal with the physical and psychic pain.

The heroines of her art, especially Judith, are powerful women exacting revenge on such male evildoers as the Assyrian general Holofernes. Her style was heavily influenced by dramatic realism and marked chiaroscuro (contrasting light and dark) of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573 - 1610).

fter her death, she drifted into obscurity, her works often attributed to her father or other artists. Art historian and expert on Artemisia, Mary D. Garrard notes that Artemisia "has suffered a scholarly neglect that is unthinkable for an artist of her calibre." Renewed and overdue interest in Artemisia in recent years has recognized her as a talented seventeenth-century painter and one of the world's greatest female artists.

The first book devoted to her, Artemisia Gentileschi - The Image of The Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art. by Mary D. Garrard, was issued in 1989; her first exhibition was held in Florence in 1991. A TV documentary, a play and, more recently, a film have advanced her notoriety .

Artemisia's signature

Artemisia's signature from a letter to Andrea Cioli, Secretary of State to Cosimo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Dated 11th December, 1635.

Artemisia's hand

Hand of Artemisia Gentileschi by Pierre Dumonstier le Neveu, 1625.

Bibliography

1. Garrard, Mary D. 1989. Artemisia Gentileschi - The Image of The Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art. Princeton University Press.
2. Garrard, Mary D. 1993. Artemisia Gentileschi. Rizzoli Publications Inc., New York.
3. Alexandra Lapierre, 1998 (translated by Liz Heron, 2000), Artemisia - a novel, Grove Press, New York.
4. Bissell, R. Ward, 1999. Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art. The Pennsylvania State University Press.
5. Garrard, Mary D. 2001. Artemisia Gentileschi around 1622: The Shaping and Reshaping of an Artistic Identity. Discovery Arts Series, University of California Press.
6. Vreeland, Susan 2002 The Passion of Artemisia Headline Book Publishing.
   (This historical novel has now been translated into 20 languages, is used in university and high school courses, and has won several awards. It was tremendously successful in Italy, and as a result, the author was asked to participate in the Festivaletteratura in Mantova.)

Miscellany

• Thumbnails of all 34 of Artemisia's paintings, click here.
• Links to other websites about Artemisia Gentileschi, click here
• Google Number One (often) with the following search words:
  • "Artemisia Gentileschi" (Over 120,000 webpages).
• Google top ten with the following search words:
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• Many thanks to Mary Ellen Snodgrass for her assistance with editing this website.

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