Artemisia Exhibition Review
“I will show Your Illustrious Lordship what a woman can do” is written at the entrance of the Artemisia exhibition at the National Gallery in London. Beside it is a short introduction on one of the most celebrated painters in history, Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1654 or later). This is the first time that the female painter has been dedicated an exhibition in the United Kingdom. In her 45-year career, she gained fame in Rome, Florence, Venice, London, and Naples, but until today, her works continue to shock us in awe. Unlike other male painters at the time, Artemisia shone through her originality in portraying biblical, historical, and mythical from the mind and eyes of a female, something that was never done before at the time.
Artemisia was born in Rome to the infamous painter Orazio Gentileschi (1563–1639), who later estranged her, perhaps intimidated by his daughter’s overwhelming success. She was trained in painting by her father, and due to her being unmarried at the time, she was constrained from accessing fellow artists and to the arts in public display. Nevertheless, it did not stop her from embracing her talent, and by the age of 16, Artemisia had already produced her first independent painting “Susannah and the Elders” (1610) to which she signed. From the first artwork, it was quite obvious the level of maturity that she held at such a young age.
In May 1611 when Artemisia was only 17, she was raped by the painter Agostino Tassi. With this, her father pressed charges against Tassi for ‘deflowering’ his daughter. Transcripts of the lengthy trial are also displayed in the exhibition. Not long after she married Pierantonio Stiattesi, where she moved with him to Florence, and another chapter of her life had begun. It was in Florence that Artemisia knew what personal freedom and professional independence felt like. She began to learn how to read and write, and was also admitted to Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in 1616, where she sought the patronage of the ruling Medici family. And it was in Florence that she moved into intellectual circles, befriending significant figures of the time, with Galileo Galilei as one of them.
Although most of her paintings featured women from Biblical and mythological history, Artemisia painted the psychological depth alongside the subjects’ strength, passion, and vulnerability. What drew many collectors to her paintings was also the fact that she was able to paint violence and nudity in extreme realism, and although this was not unusual at the time, what made her works different was the female perspective and sensibility that no male artist could provide. The way that Artemisia could demonstrate a narrative in such complexity and rawness was perhaps what made her as influential as she is.
Artemisia’s painting “Judith Beheading Holofernes” appeared twice in the exhibition, and while it was only painted one year apart, both works seem to be different and similar at the same time. The first version of the painting was made not long after her rape from Tassi, and the work have been frequently read as her way of taking revenge through painting. And in her second version, more gruesome details were highlighted, making it more theatrical than the first. Apart from this, Artemisia also painted a depiction of the story from a different point of view in “Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes”, showing Holofernes’ head at the bottom of the canvas, and Judith’s at the top of the canvas, presenting an imagery which finally, favours the woman as the heroine. However, multiple paintings that revolved around the same biblical narrative were also exhibited. With three versions of “Susannah and the Elders” were shown, each always differing in small details from one another.
The exhibition didn’t just hang up Artemisia’s paintings, a few of her father, Orazio’s works also made an appearance, as well as the love letters that were discovered in 2011 by the painter to her love affair, Francesco Maria Maringhi.
Walking through the exhibition was like walking through a storybook. All the rooms were filled with powerful imagery, rich colours, and intimate compositions of singular female figures. Throughout the exhibition, one could immediately notice the very celebration of the female that Artemisia had been striving for centuries. After being forgotten for centuries, Artemisia was rediscovered in the 20th century, and is now championed for being an inspirational heroine who embodies resilience. Artemisia once wrote of possessing ‘the spirit of Caesar in the soul of a woman’, and we can understand why she is one of the most important painters in art history, a phenomenal woman who paved the way for herself in a male dominated world.
List of artworks by Artemisia on display:
- “Danae” 1612
- “Cleopatra” 1611–12
- “Susannah and the Elders” 1610
- “Madonna and Child” 1613–14
- “Self Portrait as a Female Martyr” 1613–14
- “Self Portrait as a Lute Player” 1615–17
- “Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria” 1615–17
- “Saint Catherine of Alexandria” 1615–17
- “Judith and her Maidservant” 1614–15
- “Judith Beheading Holofernes” 1612–13
- “Judith Beheading Holofernes” 1613–14
- “Portrait of a Gonfaloniere” 1622
- “Portrait of a Lady holding a Fan” mid 1620s
- “Jael and Sisera” 1620
- “Lucretia” 1620–25
- “Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy” 1620–25
- “Susannah and the Elders” 1622
- “Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes” 1623–25
- “Annunciation” 1630
- “Saint Januarius in the Amphitheatre at Pozzuoli” 1635–37
- “Lot and his Daughters” 1636–38
- “David and Bethsheba” 1636–37
- “Clio, Muse of History” 1632
- “Corisca and the Satyr” 1635–37
- “The Birth of Saint John the Baptist” 1635
- “Susannah and the Elders” 1652
- “Cleopatra” 1633–35
- “Self Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (‘La Pittura’)” 1638–39
- “Esther before Ahasuerus” 1628–30
