Forgotten by history for hundreds of years, Artemisia Gentileschi is only now starting to reclaim her rightful place among the great Baroque painters. She has often, unfortunately, been considered simply as an extension of her father – also a famous painter – or a victim of the brutal rape she experienced as a teenager, yet both of these descriptors fail to tell the whole truth. Artemisia was a determined woman who used her talent to create incredible works of art, often depicting women in positions of power over men.
Artemisia was born in Rome in 1593, the eldest child of Orazio Gentileschi and Prudenzia di Ottaviano Montoni. Her mother died in 1605, when Artemisia was twelve, and it was around this time that she was introduced to art. She and her three brothers were trained by their father in his workshop, but it was Artemisia who displayed the most enthusiasm and talent for art. Her style was influenced by Caravaggio due to her father’s work also being influenced by him, though she quickly developed a talent for naturalism, unlike Orazio’s more idealised paintings. By 1612, her father could boast that her talent had no equal – Artemisia was just eighteen at the time.
Professionally, Artemisia was active from around the age of fourteen, but her oldest surviving work is Susanna and the Elders, painted when she was seventeen. This Biblical scene was commonly interpreted during the Baroque period, but Artemisia’s stands out from the rest in that her Susanna is clearly uncomfortable with the elders’ attention; other depictions show her in a more erotic positions, as if inviting attention. Artemisia demands sympathy for Susanna, and perfectly dramatises the life of a woman – something she continued to do throughout her career.
Horrific tragedy soon struck Artemisia in the shape of painter Agostino Tassi. He was a colleague of her father’s and, when alone with seventeen year old Artemisia, raped her. It was originally assumed that they would be married, but Tassi reneged on his promise, leading Artemisia’s father to press charges.
The 1612 court case lasted several months, during which Artemisia was subjected to torture by thumbscrews, ostensibly to verify her testimony. Her rapist suffered none of this.
Incredibly, the case papers have survived and every word of Artemisia’s testimony is thoroughly documented. She tells of how Tassi brutalised her, how she fought back desperately.
“I’d like to kill you with this knife because you have dishonoured me,” she told him, before throwing said knife, but Tassi was able to shield himself.
The case dragged Artemisia’s name through the mud and, at its conclusion, Tassi received nothing but exile, which wasn’t even enforced. Shortly after, Artemisia married a Florentine artist and moved to Florence with him. They had five children, only one of whom survived to adulthood, but it wasn’t a happy union. Still, it gave Artemisia a chance to flourish as an artist, away from Rome and the shame she had endured there.
She was the first woman admitted into the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence and became a successful court painter, enjoying Cosimo de’ Medici’s patronage, among others. She also began to develop her style further and specialised in historical paintings, rather than portraits or still life like other female painters of the time. Two famous works from her time in Florence are interpretations of the Biblical scene of Judith beheading Holofernes. The character of Judith bears a strong resemblance to Artemisia, lending credence to the idea that it is, in fact, a self-portrait.
Indeed, the entire painting can be seen as a reflection of her rape by Tassi; to suggest that her work was never influenced by this experience would be just as untrue as reducing her to the victim. In Judith Slaying Holofernes, Judith is a powerful woman, holding Holofernes down as she saws through his neck with a sword. A second version of the same painting shows her wearing a bracelet depicting Artemis, a goddess who, in myth, guarded her virginity and exacted violent revenge on those who attempted to take it.
At least in part, it would seem that Artemisia identified with Judith.
As long as I live I will have control over my being.
Artemisia Gentileschi
By the early 1620s, just as she was returning to Rome, four of her children had died. The last, a daughter named Prudentia, was trained as a painter by her mother, but her work hasn’t survived. There is no record of Artemisia’s husband after 1623 and contact with her lover, Francesco Maria Maringhi, was beginning to lessen. Maringhi was wealthy and had been providing the Gentileschi family with financial support, but the apparent loss of this support didn’t slow Artemisia down. She took every opportunity of patronage and continued to build respect and admiration for her work in the community. Amongst her admirers, Galileo and Charles I of England could be counted.
In 1630, Artemisia and her daughter moved to Naples where she lived for the remainder of her life, aside from a brief trip to England at Charles I’s behest. There, she worked with her father once more to create a series of paintings for Queen Henrietta Maria. She also painted Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting while in England (it was in Charles I’s collection), depicting herself armed with a brush, the weapon through which she told her story.
She had left England by 1642, three years after Orazio’s death. Nothing concrete is known about her beyond this point, other than she was still active in 1650. Her date of death is up for speculation; it was originally assumed that she died around 1652, but more modern evidence suggests she instead perished in the plague that swept Naples in 1656.
Regardless, what is certain is that Artemisia led an extraordinary life. At a time when female artists were few and far between, she managed to distinguish herself and rise above the tragedies that afflicted her earlier years. It is only right that she is now given the recognition she deserves.
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