 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Susanna and the Elders 1610 oil on canvas Schloss Weissenstein, Pommersfelden |
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Cleopatra ca. 1611-12 oil on canvas Amedeo Morandotti Collection, Milan |
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Judith beheading Holofernes ca. 1611-12 oil on canvas Museo di Capodimonte, Naples |
"The daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, Artemisia received her first education from her father. Her natural talent was complemented by the privilege of growing up in a household frequented by artists at a time marked by feverish artistic and cultural renewal. In her early years she trained by reproducing themes and subjects that her father had painted, and carefully followed the innovations Caravaggio had introduced in Rome. In 1614, after the rape trial against Agostino Tassi, her father's assistant, she was forced to leave Rome and move to Florence. There she worked independently, was acknowledged as an artist in her own right, and became a member of the Accademia del Disegno. She lived chiefly in Florence, with short trips to Genoa, England (where she joined her father), and Venice, before her final move to Naples."
– Rosa Giorgi, from European Art of the Seventeenth Century, translated by Rosanna M. Giammanco Frongia (Getty Museum, 2008)
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Self-portrait as Female Martyr ca. 1615 oil on panel private collection |
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Jael and Sisera ca. 1620 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Judith and Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes ca. 1618-19 oil on canvas Palazzo Pitti, Florence |
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Portrait of a Lady ca. 1620 oil on canvas private collection |
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Penitent Magdalen ca. 1622-25 oil on canvas Catedral de Santa Maria de la Sede de Sevilla |
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Woman playing Lute ca. 1628-29 oil on canvas private collection |
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Esther before Ahasuerus ca. 1628–35 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Birth of St John the Baptist 1635 oil on canvas Museo del Prado, Madrid |
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Lot and his Daughters ca. 1636-38 oil on canvas Toledo Museum of Art (Ohio) |
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Self-Portrait as Allegory of Painting (La Pittura) ca. 1638-39 oil on canvas Royal Collection, Great Britain |
Self-Portrait as an Allegory of Painting
A woman in a man's world, a woman
making a claim, choosing her own body
as the source of inspiration, wearing, as Pittura did,
a gold chain bearing the mask of imitation:
her tousled hair and muscled arms,
the shifting gold-green colors of her dress,
her sleeve rolled to the elbow,
the light striking her brow and the shadow
made by the mask-shaped charm against flesh,
the double mirrors she used to paint herself,
the act of it captured mid-gesture,
the paint laid out as her father taught her:
white near the thumb than red, brown, green,
her well-curved body bending around the canvas,
the calculated self-image occupying
the full height of the picture, her unromanticized face,
dramatically lit, composed, the bare bodice,
the rolled-up sleeve, her eyes turned upward,
her right arm raised, its movement frozen,
the mind in motion, her wide, searching gaze.
– Francine Sterle (2006)
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi Susanna and the Elders before 1654 oil on canvas Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery |