Artemisia Gentileschi
Via Ricasoli, 66, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy
Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (Academy of Design in Florence) where Artemisia Gentileschi enrolled at in 1916.
Via Ricasoli, 66, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy
Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (Academy of Design in Florence) where Artemisia Gentileschi enrolled at in 1916.
Italian portraitist Cristofano Allori, one of Artemisia Gentileschi's friends.
French painter Simon Vouet, one of Artemisia Gentileschi's friends.
Ethnicity:
Gentileschi's parents came from Tuscany, a region in central Italy.
Artemisia Gentileschi, original name Artemisia Gentileschi-Lomi, was born on July 8, 1593, in Rome, Italy. She was the daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, one of the major Tuscan Carravagists, and Prudentia Montone. The latter died around 1605.
Artemisia Gentileschi was first trained as a painter in her father's workshop alongside her brothers who demonstrated less talent than the girl. Artemisia's style was influenced by Caravaggio as her father's style, although her paintings were more naturalistic.
Then, in 1611, the landscape painter Agostino Tassi who Orazio Gentileschi was working with on decorating the vaults of Casino delle Muse inside the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi in Rome became Artemisia's private tutor. The training ended a year later, after the rape of Artemisia by Tassi. He didn't marry her and was brought to trial.
In 1616, Artemisia Gentileschi became the first female student of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (Academy of Design in Florence).
Artemisia Gentileschi's career started from her first painting, Susanna and the Elders, created in 1610 at her father's workshop and probably helped by him. The painting is full of Caravaggio's realism. Other work, dated by this period, is the first version of Judith Beheading Holofernes (about 1612-13).
In 1616, Artemisia Gentileschi moved with her husband to Florence, where she received her first commission from Casa Buonarroti. At the same time, the artist had success as a court painter, in particular, in the House of the Medici duke, Cosimo II. In Florence, Artemisia also got acquainted with many famous people, including the astronomer Galileo Galilei. The Conversion of the Magdalene and Self-Portrait as a Lute Player are among notable works of this period.
Later, in 1621, after the break-off with her husband, Artemisia spent some time in Rome. Having no big commissions, except the one from King Philip IV of Spain, dated by 1627, she came to Venice, between 1627 and as late as 1630. This time, she very likely created such works as the Portrait of a Gonfaloniere and Judith and her Maidservant.
To find more job opportunities, Artemisia Gentileschi came to Naples about 1630. There, the painter created such works as Saint Januarius in the Amphitheater of Pozzuoli, Birth of Saint John the Baptist, and Corisca and the Satyr.
In 1638, Artemisia Gentileschi joined her father in London and worked with him on the ceiling paintings of the Great Hall in the Queen's House in Greenwich for the King Charles I. Her father died in 1639 but Artemisia stayed in London where she produced many portraits till the beginning of the English Civil War in 1642. Then, the painter returned to Naples where she worked till the end of her career.
Artemisia Gentileschi was one of the most successful and talented female painters recognized while alive. She created a lot of paintings depicting biblical scenes from the perspective of a woman, the most iconic of them is Judith Beheading Holofernes and The Conversion of the Magdalene.
Gentileschi became the first female member of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (Academy of Design in Florence).
Self-portrait as a Female Martyr
Susanna and the Elders
Minerva
Dame Assise de Trois-quarts
Judith and her Maidservant
Clio, the Muse of History
Portrait of a Condottiero
Saint Cecilia as a Lute Player
Self-portrait as the Allegory of Painting
Aurora
Danae
Allegory of Inclination
Cleopatra
Lucretia
An Allegory of Peace and the Arts under the English Crown
Sleeping Venus
Judith Beheading Holofernes
Woman Playing a Lute
Lucretia
Esther and Ahasuerus
Conversion of the Magdalene
Jael and Sisera
Self-portrait as a Lute Player
Judith and her Maidservant
Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist
Cleopatra
The Martyrdom of St. Januarius
Birth of Saint John the Baptist
Corisca and the satyr
Quotes from others about the person
"The only woman in Italy who ever knew about painting, coloring, doughing, and other fundamentals." - Roberto Longhi, Italian critic.
"No one would have imagined that it was the work of a woman. The brush work was bold and certain, and there was no sign of timidness." - A nineteenth-century person
Artemisia Gentileschi married a modest artist Pierantonio Stiattesi on November 29, 1612, in the church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, Rome. The couple had one daughter, Prudentia, also known as Palmira, who survived to adulthood. Although Artemisia’s married life was unhappy, it helped her to prosper as an artist.
