1593-1652 was an Italian Early Baroque painter, today considered one of the most accomplished painters in the generation influenced by Caravaggio. In an era when women painters were not easily accepted by the artistic community, she was the first female painter to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence. She was one of the first female artists to paint historical and religious paintings, at a time when such heroic themes were considered beyond a woman's reach. Artemisia Gentileschi was born in Rome, July 8, 1593, the first child of the Tuscan painter Orazio Gentileschi, one of the best representatives of the school of Caravaggio. Artemisia was introduced to painting in her father's workshop, showing much more talent than her brothers, who worked alongside her. She learned drawing, how to mix color and how to paint. Since her father's style took inspiration from Caravaggio during that period, her style was just as heavily influenced in turn. But her approach to subject matter was different from her father's, as her paintings are highly naturalistic, where Orazio's are idealized. The first work of the young 17-year-old Artemisia was the Susanna e i Vecchioni (Susanna and the Elders) (1610, Schönborn collection in Pommersfelden). The picture shows how Artemisia assimilated the realism of Caravaggio without being indifferent to the language of the Bologna school
During the trial Artemisia was given a gynecological examination and was tortured using a device made of thongs wrapped around the fingers and tightened by degrees ?? a particularly cruel torture to a painter. Both procedures were used to corroborate the truth of her allegation, the torture device used due to the belief that if a person can tell the same story under torture as without it, the story must be true
Artemisia Gentileschi:
(Born July 8th 1593, Died 1653)
Artemisia Gentileschi was the most important, in fact the ONLY important woman painter of Early Modern Europe.
She was born on July 8, 1593 to artist Orazio Gentileschi, and his wife Prudentia Montone, who died when Artemisia was only 12. Her father trained her from an early age as an artist, mostly for his own benefit.
As was the normal practice of the time; Orazio Gentileschi worked in collaboration with several other painters. One of these was a sleezy young man from Florence, called Agostino Tassi. Orazio apparently took this young painter into his home, without any checks on the young mans background, introduced him to his daughter and allowed the young man unchaperoned access to Artemisia on the pretext of providing her with tuition.
According to trial records Artemisia testified that Tassi, with the help of family friends, had attempted to be alone with her repeatedly, and raped her when he finally succeeded in cornering her in her bedroom. She told how he tried to placate her afterwards by promising to marry her, and how he successfully gained access to her bedroom on the strength of that promise.
Perhaps even harder to bare for Artemisia was the testimony of Tassi that her artistic skills were so poor he had been employed to teach her the rules of perspective. He claimed this is what he was doing on the day of the alleged rape. Tassi denied ever having had sexual relations with Artemisia and brought witnesses to testify that she was "an insatiable whore." Their testimony was refuted by Orazio (who brought countersuit for perjury), and Artemisia's accusations against Tassi were corroborated by a former friend of his who recounted Tassi's boasting about his sexual exploits at Artemisia's expense.
This unwelcome invite no doubt encouraged (the already pregnant) Artemisia into the hastily arranged marriage to Florentine artist and family friend Pietro Antonio di Vincenzo Stiattesi. They married just one month after the trial ended, in November of 1612, and then moved to Florence. The marriage only lasted a few years but while she was married she and her husband both worked at the Academy of Design, and in 1616 Artemisia became an official member of the Academy, which was previously unheard of for a woman. This honour was only made possible because she was supported by her patron the Grand Duke Cosimo 11, member of the powerful Medici family. Prior to this, although she was the main bred winner of the family, it was her husband who negotiated commissions and the buying and selling of her work and equipment. Her paintings were owned by her husband, she was virtually owned by her husband, and all dealings concerning patrons, commissions and finance, were dealt with by the husband but; following her admission to the Academy, she became an emancipated woman and was able to conduct her own affairs. Membership of the Academy allowed Artemisia to officially gain emancipation and independence. During her time in Florence, her patron, the Grand Duke, commissioned several paintings from her, he was a real fan of her work but when he died in 1621 she left Florence and returned to Rome as head of her own household. By this time Artemisia had grown into an educated and cultured woman, mostly self taught and she was a prolific and respected painter. Over the next few years she moved around, always as head of her own household which usually comprised of herself, her daughters and her maidservants, and always as a successful painter. She was commissioned by some of the periods’ most influential people for works in Rome, Genoa, Naples and Venice. She was continually struggling to balance her own artistic preferences with the preferences of her patrons, who made her livelihood possible. She was also constantly seeking new patrons. The patron she finally attached herself was King Charles I of England. Artemisia was in residence at the English court between 1638 and 1641, she was one of many continental artists invited there by the art-collecting king.
She may even have gone to England at her fathers request to assist him in his ambitious project of decorating the ceilings of Queen’s house at Greenwich. In the years immediately following the rape and trial father and daughter were estranged, but in later life they were reunited and are known to have worked together. After civil war had broken out in England in 1641 Artemisia returned to Naples where she lived until her death.
She remained very active at Naples, she painting at least five variations on Bathsheba and perhaps another Judith during those final years. During her last ten years, her primary patron was Don Antonio Ruffo; more is known about these final years than many others due to 28 of her letters to him which have survived.
The exact cause and date of Artemisia's death is not recorded, but she most likely died in 1652. Despite being one of the best painters of her time, despite her extraordinary talent and technical expertise; the rape trial, her unconventional life as an emancipated female painter, and her preference for paintings of powerful women struggling against male dominance, did not endear her to the male aristocracy.
The only record of her death is in two satiric epitaphs, frequently translated and reprinted, they make no mention of her art but figure her in exclusively sexual terms as a nymphomaniac and adulterer. Thirty four of her paintings survive today, as well as the near complete transcript of the rape trial, published in full in Mary Gerrard's Artemisia Gentileschi, The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art. This is a book worth reading.
Art historian Charles Moffat believes Artemisia may have committed suicide, which would explain why the cause of her death was not recorded. Personally I find that hard to believe, I can’t imagine why a woman who had the courage to be an independent woman in an age of the patriarch, who had suffered rape but refused to be victimized and who lived through the brutalizing ordeal of the rape trial and torture would then, when she had found independence and success, commit suicide. We will never know with certainty how or why she died, but we can know she was a remarkable painter, and more importantly, a remarkable woman.
