ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI

Born in Rome in 1593, Gentileschi was instructed in painting by her father, Orazio Gentileschi, because girls and women were not allowed into traditional apprenticeships or into most academies.  By 1612, she had reached a high enough level of mastery that her father would boast of her skill and help her become a student of another well-known Roman painter, Agostino Tassi.  Her most obvious influence was Caravaggio; she adapted his high-contrast chiarioscural lighting to her own bold style.

In 1612, she was 19 years old.  She had a fairly successful career and continued painting until her death at age 59 or 60, but her first recorded exhibition was not until 1991.  (Yes, 1991.)

She broke away from the traditional subject matter of the few women artists of her time and earlier.  Women were usually relegated to painting commissioned portraits of not-so-famous people.  But Artemisia seemed to focus on mythological and biblical subjects; we cannot be sure because only about 34 of her paintings survive.  She is best known for her paintings of Judith, the biblical heroine who beheads the Assyrian tyrant, Holofernes.

Below are two paintings titled Judith Beheading Holofernes.  The one on the left is by Caravaggio (who was certainly never known as a wuss) from 1599.  The other is Artemisia's from about 1612, obviously modeled after the Caravaggio, but bolder, bloodier, angrier.  Next to this, it's hard to imagine Caravaggio's Judith actually succeeding in her task with her clean white dress and hesitant, almost squeamish countenance.

 Michelangelo Caravaggio (1571-1610),
Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1599
Oil on canvas, 145 x 195 cm
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome               

                                                                                                                               Artemisia Gentileschi,

Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1612-1613

Oil on canvas.

1.59m by 1.26m

Museo di Capolodimonte, Naple

         

As she matured, Artemisia became even bolder.  Take a look at this rendition of the same subject, done in 1620:  blood spurting out, furrowed brows, fists fighting back, muted colors.

Artemisia Gentileschi, 

      Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1620
Oil on canvas, 158.8 x 125.5 cm
Galeria degli Uffizi, Florence

And here is her rendition of Yael and Sisera, a story from the Book of Judges, where Yael hammers a tent peg into the head of Sisera, captain of the enemy's army.

Yael and Sisera,1620, 

Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest

If you are just itching to find out whose face is used for Sisera and Holofernes, you can read about Artemisia Gentileschi in any of several books at Fogelson Library, call number ND 623 .G364.  A novel based on her life, The Passion of Artemisia, call number PS 3572 .R34 P37, is also available.   Internet resources include www.artemisia-gentileschi.com, www.nndb.com/agentileschi and www.wga.hu/gentiles/artemisi.

 

Artemisia Gentileschi

  Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1630

 Oil on canvas, 96.5 x 73.7 cm

Royal Collection, Windsor