Some weeks I know exactly what I want to write about from the very beginning. Usually the topic winds up being something I just can’t stop thinking about, something that’s excited or perplexed me or just a topic I enjoy rolling around in my head. This week, I happened upon it purely by chance – and I’m so glad it did.
Before this week, I had never heard of Artemisia Gentileschi. I realise that I am not an art historian or an artist, and that people in those circles would probably know her work and her. However, as like a fairly decently-ish-read person who is kind of into art history and has taken university-level classes on it before… I feel like I should have known about her before now?
Based on what I’ve read, like so many accomplished women throughout history, her story was overwritten by men who diminished her talent and ensured she was largely overworked by critical art circles until second-wave feminism ensured that mainstream culture rediscovered her genius in the 1970s and she took her place among the greats. She is now considered among the most accomplished artists of the seventeenth century – and her story is one of bravery, defiance and yes – of the best kind of revenge.
Read on to learn more about this fascinating woman and how she succeeded in claiming the justice through her art that was denied her in life.
“As long as I live, I will have control over my own being.” – Artemisia Gentileschi
Promising Young Woman
Artemisia was the daughter of a well-respected Tuscan painter, Orazio Gentileschi and was raised primarily by him after the death of her mother. This allowed her, a girl, rare access to the world of art which was typically reserved for men only. Her father taught her painting and technique from a very young age alongside her brothers – and she quickly outshone them.
Her father was a peer and friend of Caravaggio and his work (and Artemisia’s) both show his influence. However, Artemisia quickly developed a style all her own. By the time she was 18, her father boasted that, despite only having been painting for three years, she was, in his eyes, “peerless.”
Her earliest known work, completed at the age of 17, is above, titled Susanna and the Elders, depicting the biblical story of Susanna. Much of Artemisia’s work throughout her life was centred around Biblical depictions.
As you can see, she was an incredibly promising young woman. But her bright future was tragically dimmed when she crossed paths with Agostino Tassi.
“My illustrious lordship, I will show you what a woman can do.” – Artemisia Gentileschi
The Rape and the Trial
Agostino Tassi was a landscape and seascape painter who was working alongside Artemisia’s father on a project in Rome. One day, he visited the Gentileschi household and, finding Artemisia alone, with only the family’s female tenant upstairs, he raped her.
Artemisia attempted to fight off her attacker and scream for help from her tenant (who was also her friend) – but her cries went ignored.
It was only after Agostino refused to marry Artemisia (the customary expectation for a rapist and his victim in Rome at the time) that Orazio pressed charges – not on behalf of Artemisia, but on behalf of the family honour.
During the seven-month trial, Artemisia was subjected to humiliation upon humiliation, even being tortured with thumbscrews during her testimony to ensure the veracity of her responses. The trial ended in Agostino Tassi’s conviction and his subsequent exile from Rome – however, the sentence was never carried out. Tassi had friends in high places – all the way up to the Vatican. Artemisia was never to get justice for her rape.
And so she created her own.
“If I were a man, I cannot imagine it would have turned out this way.” - Artemisia Gentileschi
Judith Slaying Holofernes
Nearly ten years after her assault, Artemisia painted the Biblical scene of Judith and her maidservant slaying the Assyrian general, Holofernes.
In the story, Judith is a Jewish widow from Bethulia, which is under siege by the Assyrians. Judith pretends to seduce their general Holofernes, gets him drunk and then, with some help from her trusty maidservant, Abra, she cuts off his head.
This scene had been painted many times before, most notably by Caravaggio. Here is his take on the tale:
And here is Artemisia Gentileschi’s:
Very different takes, no?
Gentileschi often used herself as an artist’s model – and she has done so here, using herself as a model for the figure of Judith. Using herself as a model doesn’t necessarily mean that her work should always be viewed as self-portraiture, of course.
However, there is some indication that this particular work was. Perhaps the most telling indication is the fact that she has not only given Judith her likeness, but she has also given her a bracelet, which, when examined closely, depicts Artemisia’s namesake, the goddess of the hunt and of chastity, Artemis. If she is not meant to be Judith here, she is certainly aligning herself with her.
This painting is notable for its visceral, female rage. Whereas Caravaggio’s depiction of Holofernes’ slaying shows a fairly passive Judith, standing at arms length, her hands barely visible, her face calm, in Artemisia’s portrait, Judith and Abra are both right in the thick of it, wrestling with a writhing warrior of a man in his death throes.
Abra is holding Holofernes down hard, with both of her muscular arms extended as Holofernes clutches at her collar. Meanwhile, Judith cuts, her knee driven into Holofernes to brace against. Her sleeves are rolled up, her left hand grasping Holofernes hard by the hair as her right pushes down firmly on the sword, severing his head and sending arcs of spraying blood both onto the bed and onto herself. Artemisia’s Judith is concentrating and exerting herself, brows furrowed, arms braced, eyes on her work.
The women are also, notably, dressed in seventeenth century Roman attire, now speckled with blood as Holofernes breathes his last.
It’s a hell of a piece. It bubbles over with a uniquely feminine rage and vengeance. And while no woman should ever be distilled to her trauma, it truly does seem that in this work, Gentileschi is claiming the agency and justice in her art that she was denied in her life. It’s a howl into the void – and you can hear it.
Gentileschi went on to be come the first woman inducted into Florence’s Academy of Art and Design and had an illustrious and cosmopolitan international career. Much of her work focused on the feminine and reinterpreted biblical stories from a woman’s perspective. She was a confident, self-assured advocate of her own work – and her own gender – throughout her life.
“You will find,” she assured a buyer who questioned the high price of one of her paintings, “the soul of Caesar in a woman.”
In Artemisia? Certainly.
Bits and Bobs
Aside from catching up on my art history, this week has been spent nursing a sore back and watching too much Netflix. I’ve been:
Reading: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. This one is hard. Because while I want to read it and it’s interesting as all hell, it also makes me incredibly angry so I have to put it down a lot.
Let me just say that however horrible you might think the Koch brothers are, they are actually, it turns out, a bajillion times worse.
Listening to: Gregory Alan Isakov’s brand new album Appaloosa Bones is helping to make the ick from above go away. I love him so much, he writes some absolutely beautiful music. Here is my favourite ever song of his, performed with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra:
Watching: I just finished the one-hour Christmas episode of The Bear, called “Fishes.” Guys. People. Humans. Oh my lord. That was the most stressful hour of television since Hector and his little bell in Breaking Bad. It also starred a veritable who’s who of A-list names in a one-off capacity including Jamie Lee Curtis giving one of the best performances of her goddamn life.
You’ll also find Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Oliver Platt (reprising his extremely underrated Uncle Jimmy), Jon Bernthal knocking it out of the park as Mikey and John Mulaney, who I’m still kind of mad at. He’s good in it though. If you’re not watching this show, you should be.
I’ll leave you with some of the soothing tones of Appaloosa Bones to make up for the stress it will bring into your life.
Until next time! As ever like, share and subscribe if you enjoy :) Thank you kindly friends.
This was very interesting and I love the music recommendation, thank you!