Artemisia Gentileschi was a 17th-century Italian painter with an unmistakable dramatic and expressive style clearly inspired by Caravaggio. Her fame, however, has often been attributed to the dramatic and fictional events of her life, which made her a feminist heroine ante litteram.

Who was the 'painter' Artemisia Gentileschi

Artemisia Gentileschi was born on July 8, 1593, in Rome. She was the daughter of the mannerist Pisan painter Orazio Gentileschi, who had moved to Rome where he absorbed Caravaggesque influences.

Artemisia was passionate about painting from a very young age, especially after the death of her mother (1605). Also inspired by the dramatic realism of Caravaggio, she placed elements of the Bolognese school alongside it: her first completed work is Susanna and the Old Men, made in 1610 when he was only 17 years old.

An event that profoundly marked her personal and artistic life was, in 1611, her rape by Agostino Tassi, her perspective master, during her apprenticeship at her father's workshop. A public and much-talked-about trial ensued, in which she had to testify under torture, prove her virginity prior to the rape, and was subjected to the sibyl, a torture designed for painters that consisted of bandaging the fingers of her hands with ropes until they bled.

Tassi was convicted, but the woman's reputation and mental and physical balance were irreparably ruined.

After her trial, she married by arranged marriage the modest painter Pierantonio Stiattesi, moving in 1612 to Florence, a city that enjoyed a very fertile cultural climate. In 1616 she was the first woman in history to be admitted to the prestigious Florentine Academy of Drawing.

Her husband's debts and chatter about her morality prompted her to leave Florence in 1620 to return to Rome, and then to embark on a series of trips and stays in Genoa, Venice, Naples and London, during which she got to know important artists of the time. Although she was always well received in the various cities, she still did not receive commissions as numerous as those of her male colleagues. She died in Naples in 1653, after a final period of great activity.

Feminism in the works of Artemisia

Artemisia's biographical path evolved in a society in which women played a marginal role: even painting, like other activities, was considered a purely male practice. Artemisia was ignored for centuries by art historians, who tended to reduce her artistic status to her sad personal affairs.

His mature and dramatic style, and his figure more generally, began to be reevaluated beginning with an article by Roberto Longhi (1916), Gentileschi father and daughter. However, her expressive range is still predominantly associated with the dramatic and fictional aspects of her life, which led her, by necessity, to a feminist ante litteram.We recall in this regard his numerous works depicting biblical heroines triumphant over male abuse: Judith beheading Holofernes (1612-1613), Esther and Ahasuerus (c. 1628-1635), David and Bathsheba (1635).

The painting of Artemisia

However, we should not forget the stylistic strength with which Artemisia imposed herself as a painter, trying her hand at decidedly new genres compared to the few previous female painters (who until then had limited themselves to landscapes, portraits, and still lifes). Artemisia's painting is a "high" painting, with historical and sacred subjects and a dramatic and monumental layout of clear Caravaggesque inspiration: skillfully constructed scenes, shapes and colors with sharp contrasts, close cuts that dramatize the relationship with the viewer by abandoning conventional iconographic modules. More intimate atmospheres but also more lyrical tones, fully in tune with the Baroque style, expressing a power that goes beyond personal events: recall his Judiths, rendered with great concreteness and not at all idealized, as are also the self-portraits and nudes.

Where to find the works of Artemisia Gentileschi in Naples

The period of his stay in Naples from 1630 to 1653 (interrupted by a four-year stay in London) was one of intense activity; however, few works are currently preserved here.

National Museum and Galleries of Capodimonte

Judith beheading Holofernes (1612-1613). It depicts the biblical heroine Judith (flanked by the slave girl Abra) in the act of beheading the Assyrian general Holofernes, who was besieging the city of Betula. Unlike other painters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who had proposed the same theme, Artemisia chooses the bloodiest moment of the story, the precise instant of the beheading.

Annunciation (1630). A large altarpiece painted in oil on canvas, depicting the theme dear to the history of art of all time, the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary.

Pozzuoli Cathedral

San Gennaro in the amphitheater of Pozzuoli (1636-37). It is part of a group of three paintings made by Artemisia for the Cathedral of Pozzuoli (Rione Terra), and depicts the story of the martyrdom of Saint Gennaro: specifically, the moment when the ferocious beasts to which he had been fed, instead of attacking him, acquiesce, licking his feet. After being kept for over fifty years at the Capodimonte Museum, it returned to its original location following the reopening of Pozzuoli Cathedral for worship.

Saints Proculus and Nicea (1636-37). It depicts two of the martyrs of Pozzuoli, Proculus and his mother Nicea, who, according to tradition, were buried in Pozzuoli Cathedral. This painting, like the previous one, was also kept for over fifty years at the Capodimonte Museum before returning to its original location.

Adoration of the Magi (1636-37). Together with the previous two, it completes the triptych for the choir of Pozzuoli Cathedral, where it is currently preserved (after more than fifty years at the Museum of San Martino). Interestingly, the characters are characterized by "southern," almost "Spanish-like" physiognomies.

Zevallos Stigliano Palace

Samson and Delilah (1630-38). Oil on canvas inspired by the biblical story of the same name, depicting Samson asleep on the lap of the charming Delilah, who by deception breaks the young man's heart and manages to discover his strength.