ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI: AHEAD OF HER TIMES Alex Mongelli

Artemisia Gentileschi was an Italian woman and artist of late Renaissance, a time of great ideas for the arts and inventions. She grew up in a family of artists. One of her mentors was the famous Caravaggio, and he greatly influenced her style of painting. Gentileschi had a hard life because in Renaissance Italy, it was a cultural norm that men become renowned artists instead of women. Gentileschi was upset about this and based her artworks on her feelings from the past and recent experiences. Gentileschi conveys her anger in her artwork Judith beheading Holofernes because of the rape she endured from one of her fathers friends (Agostino Tassi), therefore resulting in Gentileschi feeling traumatized. This art work is based on an Old Testament bible story. The story David and Goliath is related to Gentileschis artwork Judith beheading Holofernes because David and Judith are both heroes, and Holoferenes and Goliath are both villains. In Gentileschis artwork Judith beheading Holofernes, Gentileschi portrays Agostino Tassi as Holofernes. Apart from Gentileschi painting Judith beheading Holofernes, Gentileschi also has painted an artwork expressing her happiness at the start of her marriage this artwork is called Judith and her maidservant, this therefore focuses on Gentileschis present period in this artwork. In Gentileschis baroque painting Judith and her maidservant, Gentileschi again portrays herself as Judith this time she has ultimately succeeded in killing the aggressor Holofernes,

however Judith is still in control at all times (Holofernes is a symbolic castration of Agostino Tassi Gentileschis rapist). Therefore Gentileschi through painting her artwork Judith and her Maidservant, Gentileschi gradually resolves her feelings about Tassi. Gentileschi was married to a Florentine artist called Pietro Antonio. In the context of this artwork Judith and her maidservant, most male artists at Gentileschis time would have portrayed their heroes as proud and victorious, however Gentileschi portrayed Judith and her maidservant as victorious, however still not sure about their situation after Holofernes decapitation. Of Holofernes head i.e. Holofernes head is concealed or hidden in a basket and guards could have woken up from their sleep (Both Judith and her maidservant Abra in her painting are looking around their whereabouts watching out for danger). In 1692 Gentileschi also painted another of her artworks called The Angel, while she settled her in Florence (when she moved from Rome to Florence), with her husband Pietro Antonio. Gentileschi also was the first woman artist to be accepted into the The academy of drawing or Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence. In Florence she became friendly with other extraordinary Italians: Mathematician and Astronomer Galileo and artists such as Michelangelo. Therefore Gentileschis painting of The Angel is a happy reflection of this period of her life. Artemisia has been the subject of several books and a movie.