Artemisia Gentileschi

Two years ago I raved about National Geographic History, but I never did subscribe or even pick up another copy. But I just got the first digital copy of 2020, and once again I'm impressed. I haven't read the whole issue, but each article is fascinating, so I thought I'd share some information as I go through the magazine.

I'll start with a bit of art history. Ever heard of Artemisia Gentileschi? No, well she was a pioneer in Baroque art, mostly because she was a woman in a time when there weren't many women artists. She was born in Italy in 1593, her father a respected painter. She was the first woman to be accepted into the Academy of the Arts of Drawing, and a major retrospective is set for this year at the National Gallery in London.

Her life is also cinematic, as she was raped by her father's assistant, Agostino Tassi. But it wasn't the rape that got him into hot water, it was reneging on a promise to marry her. She was a virgin when she was assaulted--if she hadn't been there would have been no trial. So Tassi was tried and exiled, but Artemisia was tortured with thumbscrews so the court could be sure her testimony was true.

Gentileschi's work was very evocative of Caravaggio. In fact, she used some of his same subject matter, such as Judith's beheading of Holofornes (seen above), which she painted twice. The use of color and shadow is very typical of Caravaggio. Gentileschi used Biblical scenes involving strong woman as her subjects frequently: Esther, Mary Magdalene, Bathsheba, and Delilah. She also painted from Greek and Roman myth, particularly Venus, nude and sleeping. She also painted a striking nude of Cleopatra.

Artemisia was sort of re-discovered in the 1970s by feminist art critics. Her life was turned into a movie, a French-German-Italian production called Artemisia, directed by Agnes Merlet. I'll have to tyr to hunt that down.