Susanna and the Elders (1610)
Schloss Weißenstein, Pommersfelden, Germany
Her earliest known signed and dated work, painted aged about 17
Image: Artemisia Gentileschi · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Art
Artemisia Gentileschi
1593–c. 1656 · Italian
Baroque (Caravaggesque)
Artemisia Gentileschi was the most celebrated woman painter of the Italian Baroque, trained by her father Orazio in the dramatic style of Caravaggio. She worked in Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples and London, specialising in powerful heroines from the Bible and history. Largely forgotten for centuries, she has become an icon of feminist art history.
How to spot them
- ▸Strong, physically active female protagonists — Judith, Susanna, Lucretia, Cleopatra
- ▸Caravaggesque lighting with gory, forceful action (Judith's sleeves rolled up as she beheads Holofernes)
- ▸Rich jewel-toned fabrics — golds, deep blues and crimsons
- ▸Quiz clue pattern: daughter of Orazio, Agostino Tassi trial, first woman in Florence's Accademia
Key works
Judith Slaying Holofernes (c. 1612–1613)
Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
The first of her two versions of the brutal beheading
Image: Artemisia Gentileschi · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Judith Slaying Holofernes (c. 1620)
Uffizi, Florence
Larger second version, with blood arcing across the sheets
Image: Artemisia Gentileschi · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Judith and Her Maidservant (c. 1623–1625)
Detroit Institute of Arts
Candlelit aftermath: Judith shields the flame as her maid bags the severed head
Image: Artemisia Gentileschi · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura) (c. 1638–1639)
Royal Collection, UK
Shows herself mid-brushstroke as the personification of Painting; once owned by Charles I
No free image available (likely still in copyright) · see it on Wikipedia
Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1615–1617)
National Gallery, London
Acquired in 2018 — one of very few works by a woman in the gallery's collection
Image: Artemisia Gentileschi · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Quick-fire facts
- •She was the daughter of the painter Orazio Gentileschi, a follower of Caravaggio.
- •In 1611 she was raped by the painter Agostino Tassi; at the 1612 trial in Rome she was tortured with thumbscrews to test her testimony, and Tassi was convicted.
- •In 1616 she became the first woman admitted to the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence.
- •She worked for the Medici in Florence and spent most of her later career in Naples.
- •Around 1638 she joined her father in London at the court of Charles I, where Orazio was decorating the Queen's House at Greenwich.
- •The National Gallery, London, held a major exhibition of her work in 2020.
Drill it — 9 cards
1 / 9new card
Sources
- National Gallery, London — Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria (collection entry)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Artemisia Gentileschi
- Royal Collection Trust — Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura)