Artemisia Gentileschi Analysis

Throughout many different sources, Artemis/Diana is considered to be a strong goddess who presides over the “crucial aspects of life.”1 This involves, watching over women’s transitions and transformations, and the activities of men; war and hunting. This paper will discuss the methods and results of different sources which present this information to readers in different ways.

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” -Oscar Wilde. Women are wild, sensitive, magnificent, mysterious, and above all: individual. Art’s many different medias allowed artist throughout the ages to capture women at both their strongest and most vulnerable points. It has the power to capture a woman: as a naïve, young girl clutching her brother as they are painted into a lasting portrait, a golden statue of an angel sent down to Earth to help a saved man take his first steps into an eternal life with God, to the powerful goddess, Artemis, transforming a hunter into a deer and having his hunting dogs tragically attack him. The six pieces of art chosen express the individuality of each women who has walked, walks, and will walk the earth.

Judith Slaying Holofernes is one of her masterpieces that has been acknowledged as a proper piece to understand the main characteristics of her painting style. Carol Strickland, an American art historian, explains that this painting shows how Gentileschi depicted her subject into the style of Caravaggio, who was her father’s teacher and famous for dramatic lightning (Strickland, 47). Based on these facts, some critics conjecture that Gentileschi may just have borrowed the dramatic story from the Book of Judith to express her technique that resembled that of Caravaggio. They argue that it is unreasonable and too subjective to relate Judith Slaying Holofernes with the identity of Gentileschi. Identity of Gentileschi, however, cannot be separated with the story of Judith and the painting Judith Slaying Holofernes because Gentileschi’s identity severely resembles that of Judith. Their struggle, success leaded by their capacity, and destruction of the gender stereotypes are main common aspects that Judith and Gentileschi share. These qualities further prove how Artemisia Gentileschi was an ideal feminist who asserted her freedom inside an unfair

Artemisia Gentileschi was not the first to paint Judith Slaying Holofernes. Her father had painted Judith. Michelangelo, Botticelli and Caravaggio had painted Judith. Donatello had sculpted Judith. But she was the first to interpret the story of Judith, in a time when women had few rights, as an allegory for female dominance. In comparison with other contemporary versions, the composition, dramatic style, and emotions of the characters present a violently feminist view that may have stemmed from Gentileschi's own experiences.

The post-modernist Julie Rrap is a contemporary artist whose focal point rests on the basis of femineity and the way the female identity is represented historically within art. She is a feminist who accuses the ‘male gaze’ of instigating a predatory activity that is accustomed with the norm of society. She relates this norm to existing social structures that are attributed with a patriarchal society, where women were nothing more than sexual objects. All in all this term, the ‘male gaze’ evaluates the predatory voyeurism of society, where the male is the active subject and the female is a passive object of representation.

Another interesting commonality between the two is that Anguissola’s mother died when she was around 4 or 5. Similarly, Gentileschi lost her mother at a young age, when she was around 12 years old. Gentileschi must have struggled more as a result than her fortunate predecessor, as she was not from prestigious family. Her father was a fairly well-known artist who worshipped Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio’s style, especially his use of tenebrism. This adoration was imparted to his daughter Artemisia, who often copied this style. Intriguingly, there is a bizarre connection even in this. There is some rumor that a drawing that Anguissola had sent to the famed artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (the more famous one), had ended up in a notebook belonging to Giorgio Vasari, and is suspected to have been discovered by Caravaggio, which later inspired his painting ‘Boy Bitten by a Lizard’. There is a clear connection through time between these two women. Yet, in a way seems to have been founded through pure chance and phenomenon. As hard as it is to believe, this is not the only person who intertwines these women together. Anthony Van Dyke visited Anguissola when she was very old, and blind, but spent hours

Artemisia Gentileschi is believed to have been born around 1593 and died around 1652.  Both dates are disputed to the current day.  She was one of five children and was born into the life of an artist.  Her father, who was an artist as well, loved her greatly.  Her mother died when she was twelve.  Artemisia was always a skilled painter, but her father wanted even more for her daughter.  While her works were already amazing for her age, she needed artistic guidance in order to further her skills.  One man who was hired as a tutor was named Agostino Tossi.  Tossi almost immediately was an annoying presence in the house frustrating Artemisia.  However, in 1610,

Italian Baroque painter, Artemisia Gentileschi was born in Rome on July 8th, 1593. Her father Orazio Gentileschi, who was a painter himself, introduced Artemisia to the art of painting by giving her lessons in his studio. At an early age, Artemisia displayed her interest in art and it wasn’t long until her father noticed potential in his daughter enough that she would be able to make a name for herself in the male-dominated career. Artemisia had the desire to follow in her father’s footsteps, it was then that Orazio encouraged her to follow her dreams and decided to begin training her as an artist.

Artemisia continued an affair with Agostino under the promise of marriage, when the marriage never happened, her father brought charges against Tassi and a trial ensued, to which Artemisia was tortured during a gynecological examination for the trial. Again life imitating art and a testament toward the women depicted in her paintings. Miss Gentileschi married a man named Pierantonio Stiattesi and they moved to Florence. As mentioned, Artemisia had 5 children, however only her daughter Prudentia survived into adulthood. After her mother's death in 1656, Prudentia disappeared from history.

Nanette Salomon, a very well known feminist writer, wrote the article, “Judging Artemisia: A Baroque Woman in Modern Art History.” The article opens up with a discussion about the 2001-2 exhibition of Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi: Father and Daughter Painters in Baroque Italy. The author explains that three things are unusual here: the fact that two famous artists were presented at the same time, that they were related as father and daughter, and the fact that the woman was better known than the man. Her intent in this article is to look at the effects of this trope (figure of speech) in the past and in the present.

The passage that I read is about renowned female Baroque (and Renaissance) painter Artemisia Gentileschi.She was taught by her father at a young age. However, as a teenager, Gentileschi was sexually assaulted by another artist and friend of her neighbor, Agostino Tassi. Later on in her life, she returned to painting and married painter Pietro Stiattesi. They eventually separated, and Artemisia lived a life of self-reliance and independence. Her art emphasized classical and biblical themes, but also focused on stories, especially of women. She also used female characters as metaphors to convey themes like oppression, suffering, injustice, and triumphs of women. Gentileschi gained popularity soonafter, and became the first woman to be admitted

Considered one of the most important artists of the Baroque movement in Early Modern Europe, Artemisia Gentileschi, had to prove herself and break down the boundaries for a woman in a male dominated field. Artemisia was born in Rome on July 8, 1953 to Orazio and Prudentia Monotone Gentileschi, who died when the artist was only twelve years of age. Her upbringing was left to her father, who was also a well-known painter. He trained her since she was not permitted to learn in the studios of successful artists of the moment. Orazio introduced his daughter to the working artists of Rome including Caravaggio, whose tenebrism technique and chiaroscuro style had a great influence on her paintings.

In Virginia Woolf’s short essay, Shakespeare’s Sister (1928), she explores the misogynistic world’s effect on women artists from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. Depicted through an imaginary sister of Shakespeare, and her own experiences, Woolf explains how “in the nineteenth century a woman was not encouraged to be an artist.” Instead, women were deemed of no value beyond the home or child bearing (Jacobus 702). Such gender issues have emerged in every facet of our society, primarily concentrating on gender equality in areas like education, status, awareness, and availing of socio-economic opportunities. In today’s context, with an overall look at history, in comparison to men, women remain relatively more constrained by

Artemisia Gentileschi’s Venus and Cupid is a painting of an angel caressing a woman resting on the bed. In actuality, the painting is about Venus, the Goddess of Love, who is asleep in a very luxurious and classical environment. While she is asleep, Cupid diligently wields a peacock-feathered fan to keep away pests, which makes the environment more safe and peaceful. Primarily strong contrasting lights and darkness display Gentileschi’s work, perhaps inspired by both her father and Caravaggio. Her paintings are all primarily bold compositions for example the

In this essay, I will discuss the startling differences between two depictions of the story of Judith and Holofernes. “Judith with the Head of Holofernes”, 1495, created by Andrea Mantegna, is a small-scale painting that was completed during the Renaissance. The second is a Baroque painting, “Judith Slaying Holofernes”, c.1620 by Artemisia Gentileschi and is on a larger scale than the version created by Mantegna. Both artworks take inspiration from the religious story that appears in the Catholic editions of the Bible. The story is about a young widowed Jewish woman, by the name of Judith, who murdered an enemy army general, Holofernes, to spare her people from death. I will compare and contrast how the scene has been depicted in rather different ways by each of the artists and the influencing factors that contributed to the overall outcome of both works. I will also be discussing how form and naturalism are portrayed between the two paintings, use of colour, symbolism and religion, as well as the Renaissance and Baroque eras.