Pain and Rage That Pushed a Female Painter to High Success
Artemisia Gentileschi was born in Rome, the daughter of a celebrated painter. As a young girl, she served as an apprentice to her father, learning the skills of a professional painter. When her father recognized that she had advanced beyond his training, he hired a highly sought-after trainer Tassi. The trainer raped Gentileschi at 17 and this had a tremendously negative impact on her reputation. She suffered from gossip that branded her a promiscuous woman.
An early Italian Baroque painter, Artemisia set herself apart and became the only female follower of Caravaggio, whom she worked with in Italy in the early 17th century. Her innovative compositions and focus on Biblical heroines set her apart from her male contemporaries and have led to the celebration as a painter with a uniquely female perspective.
She ended up forging a path as an artist in a male-dominated era. Her remarkable journey took her through the courts of Rome, Florence, and Naples, to England, ultimately leading to her being the first woman admitted into the Academy of Art and Design in Florence. It was a major success at that time when art studies were inaccessible to women. The painting that got her to this honorable status was the depiction of Judith slaying Holofernes.
“The Lord has struck him down by the hand of a woman,” declares Judith, a young Jewish woman from Bethulia, as the Bible recounts. She describes her daring act that liberated the Israelites from the siege by Nebuchadnezzar’s forces. Judith ventured into the camp of Holofernes, the formidable Assyrian general, dressed in her finest and pretending to seek an alliance. Captivated by her beauty, Holofernes invited her to a grand feast in his tent. After the general succumbed to drunkenness and fell asleep, Judith seized the opportunity to use her scimitar and deliver the fatal blow.
This painting scene was turned into a striking painting by Artemisia as she captured the moment Judith kills Holofernes. The painting is both powerful and chilling: Holofernes lies inebriated on his bed, his head clutched by his hair as the sword is driven into his neck, blood spurting so violently it stains Judith’s dress.
Her early pieces in particular show how attuned she was to the dynamics of sexual violence she experienced. Her Judith and Holofernes show Judith as impassive and determined as she wields the knife. It has been suggested that her Holofernes resemble Tassi, her abuser.
Completed in Rome after Artemisia’s seven-year stint in Florence, the work echoes the naturalistic and forceful style reminiscent of Caravaggio, whom Artemisia admired. Despite its striking execution, the painting initially sparked controversy and was not displayed as planned. The public condemned Artemisia’s paintings, preferring their biblical figures perfect, penitent, with ethereal beauty whereas, hers were raw and visceral.
Artemisia’s success as an artist was both because of, and despite, her gender: she was a woman in a man’s world, but this made her distinct and she used this to her advantage throughout her career.
