Introduction
This exhibition explores the masterpieces of Italy’s splendour female artist, Artemisia Gentileschi. Born in 1593, Artemisia was an icon from the Baroque period. Gentileschi artworks explore her most undesirable emotions and tragedies from her life into masterpieces of the seventeenth century that recognises the importance of women in an oppressive society. Inspired by Caravaggio and Michelangelo’s artistic techniques, she got recognition as an iconic female artist that inspired thousands of other extraordinary female painters who dreamed to follow an artistic career. As an early feminist militant, Artemisia Gentileschi expresses not just powerful women on her artworks, but a deep connection to a brighter future for modern women rights.
This exhibition contains three rooms that emphasise her beautiful biblical works of art. The rooms use geometric forms as part of its design. The first room, in a rectangular shape, comprises an introduction to Gentileschi and the baroque period. This room has soft amber walls to enhance her artworks, which are composed of a dark variation of black tones and shades. The second room, in a circular shape, brings a deeper perspective of her artworks during the Baroque period. The bright white walls and the circular room shape allows the public to have a closer perspective of the artworks placed on the walls. The third room, in an oval shape, comprises the influences of the artist during the 17th century. The oval shape allows the public to circulate throughout the room, and hanging the paintings, if possible, would bring an in-depth perspective to the viewer, allowing them to see the object in all of its dimensionality.
The Baroque Period
The extravagant and imposing Baroque style flourished in Europe during the seventeenth century. This style is known for its bright gold and its emphatic details that captivated people’s eyes firstly in Rome, then later on spreading throughout entire Europe. The Baroque word has its origin from the Portuguese language, that means irregular pearls. The Baroque style has a very strong connection to the Roman Catholic Church. The holy imageries were spread all around the world, showing “the power and authority of the Catholic Church” (“Victoria and Albert Museum”). Besides the over the top decorations the Baroque style also brought spiritualism that comforted people’s beliefs, honouring the imagery of the holy spirit. During the Baroque period, the Catholic Church recognised its errors and needed to reconquer its followers that were lost by the Protestantism, a religious movement across Europe. In 1545, the Roman Catholic Church released the term “Catholic Counter-Reformation art” (“Catholic Counter-Reformation Art (1560-1700)”), which focused mainly on reconquering its followers and faith mysteries. This reformation had five main elements:
1.Reactionary defence of Catholic sacramental practice;
2. Ecclesiastical or structural reconfiguration;
3. Religious orders;
4. Spiritual movements;
5. Political dimensions;
Those five elements represented the changes needed at the Roman Catholic Church and its desire for a new image among the people. The commission reformed issues such as corrupt bishops and priests, financial deficits and especially the sale of indulgences, which was a reduction on the penalty committed by the practice of sins.
Artemisia Gentileschi: Baroque
Her childhood is where everything possibly started. Born in an artistic family, Artemisia’s father was always fascinated by Caravaggio’s artwork. This particular fact influenced Gentileschi’s paintings, which can be noticed from the contrast of dark and light in Caravaggio’s and Gentileschi’s paintings. Women at the time were not usually part of the art world, it was a very different time. The fact that Gentileschi is a huge representation of the Baroque art expresses for itself her importance to the period and for the art history.
This revolutionary feminist painting represents the variety of techniques and her courage as an artist at the time. Judith Slaying Holofernes was made by Artemisia Gentileschi in 1614 and is part of her first paintings collections. This beautiful piece speaks for itself. The hands of an outrageous and powerful woman, holding a sharp spade killing another powerful man. This religious piece shows a contrast between religions and regions. Judith represents the Israelite community and Holofernes presents the Assyrian Empire. Judith gives a vigorous look towards Holofernes, showing her empowerment and representing women during the 17th century.
The painting named Danae from Artemisia Gentileschi also represents and reinforces her importance as a feminist painter. This painting represents a Greek myth where the woman, Danae, is confined in her bedroom by the King Acrisius of Argos, her father. “Gentileschi's Danae is neither sexually aggressive nor innocently unaware, instead she is shown in the process of experiencing the consummation” (“The Art Story”). The fact that she is confined can represent how women did not have the voice to speak up at the time. Being locked by her father represents the oppression and the misconception the public used to strongly believe centuries ago. This subject was strongly recreated by several famous painters, like Correggio (c. 1531), Rembrandt (c. 1636) and later on by Klimt (1907).
The Female Artistic World of Rome
The artistic world during the seventeenth century was highly conservative and almost exclusively compost by men. The fact that Artemisia Gentileschi was the only female artist in Rome that had a recognition contrasts a lot with the reality the artistic world lives in today. “Her artistic skills as well as the events of her private life have overshadowed other aspects of the female artistic world of Rome in the seventeenth century” (Barker 119). The few female artists in Rome did not get recognition at all, Gentileschi seems to be a very specific case. Her success was so important that Rome, during the 17th century decided to provide women artists with the chance to succeed in the artistic scene. Two vital documents were emitted by Rome’s most important Academies (“an elite formal institution dedicated to the pursuit of higher knowledge and reinforcement of an official culture [Locker 9]) to try to give women artists new opportunities. The Accademia di San Luca emitted a manuscript called I Nomi Delle SS. Pittrici Accademiche that consisted of a list of twenty female artists that were ignored in the artistic scene. This document allowed those artists to get more recognition and activity in the papal city. Memorie per servire l’Accademia by Missirini represented another change for women artists at the time. This document listed not just the female artists in the 17th century but also listed many more until the end of the 18th century.
Artemisia Gentileschi’s Aesthetic Style
Like any other artist, Artemisia did have a special talent. Since very young, she admired her father, Orazio Gentileschi works of art. Unfortunately, she was never encouraged to be an artist. “Orazio kept his daughter confined to his house, according to the custom among respectable Romans of the time, the Gentileschi domicile also functioned as his studio, with its constant traffic of models, colleagues and patrons” (“Artemisia's Moment”). He never embraced her artistic ambitions; he expected his only daughter to be a nun. Artemisia Gentileschi never accepted this idea, which explains the feminist meanings behind her paintings. “In Artemisia’s world female figures hammer and paint, grab and hold, push and shove, with extraordinary ease. Their hands and arms are exceptionally strong, more than adequate for the job to be done” (Bal 5). By the age of 15, she started to study Caravaggio’s panting techniques. Her first panting, Susanna and the Elders (1610) were made when she was only seventeen years old. This piece contains an advanced colour scheme and highly influences from Michelangelo and Caravaggio’s artworks. This painting portrays the story of Susanna, a wife that is sexually harassed by the men in her community. Susanna and the Elders (1610) represents a fragile and vulnerable woman and on the other side, deceitful and threatening men looking in her direction.
The piece named Lucretia made in 1623-1625 was another huge representation of her aesthetic techniques and her connection to the feminist movement. Lucretia is another Classical Greek mythology that shares the story of a raped woman that after confessing what happened, she commits suicide. This piece carries a strong message towards oppressive and cruel men. The painting resembles her suicide scene, a dramatic lighting that highlights her face and breasts and her hands holding a long sharp knife pointing on her direction. “Gentileschi draws attention to the character's femininity and the nurturing potential of the woman, as well as indicating her bold intention" (“The Art Story”).
Gentileschi emerged herself on a world of new ideas, new concepts and freedom for female artists. “It is reasonable to infer that her creation of powerful female characters was supported by the climate of her time, that the feminist and anti-feminist battles did not pass her by, and that the important contribution she made to the feminist side of the question may not have gone entirely unrecognised in the seventeenth century” (Garrard 141). Artemisia Gentileschi was not just a female painter, she was a powerful influential model for young women artists to feel more confident and get more recognition in the art world not just because of their artworks, but because the artworks were made by strong women that are united in the art world since the seventeenth century fighting for gender equality.
Her Influences
Artemisia Gentileschi has always been in contact with art, she grew up in at an artistic environment. Her father, Orazio Gentileschi was a very important painter in Rome. Orazio first collections were very Mannerist, which is a style consisted of exaggerated and elongated figures expressing weirdness and strange colour schemes. Orazio later on his career started to build a relationship with the painter Caravaggio and started to get more influences from the Baroque period. Caravaggio’s techniques, for instance, the realistic figures and the strong presence of chiaroscuro, which is a contrast of light famous techniques were some examples present on Orazio Gentileschi’s artworks and also of his daughter, Artemisia Gentileschi that is considered a joy for the Baroque art. In 1612, Agostino Tassi was accused of raping Orazio Gentileschi’s daughter. The accusation became popular and started to harm Orazio’s career, which made him find work in Rome’s surroundings. This case influenced Artemisia Gentileschi’s feminist movement that was deeply presented in her artwork that was recognised by conservative academies in Rome during the seventeenth century.
This painting, David Slaying Goliath, by Orazio Gentileschi represents his influences from Caravaggio’s works of art and also influences his daughter, Artemisia Gentileschi. The use of light is a memorable precise technique used by Caravaggio on his artworks. This piece is one of his first inspirations after 1600 when he adopted the Baroque style. It is clear how the painting highlights Davide’s body and how Orazio embraces Caravaggio’s working method. “The emphasis on painting from nature gave his at new freshness and immediacy, particularly in the sumptuous treatment of fabrics” (Locker 9).
Artemisia Gentileschi was one of a kind, but not well recognised as she should have been. After her death in 1652 at Naples, Italy, her art was almost forgotten. Her father possessed all of her artworks, and for years forgotten. Artemisia only got recogni tion during the late-20th century, almost three centuries after her talent and ability to express her emotions into powerful and striking women were finally recognised. Her courage to break concepts that female artists only painted portraits showed her desire for change. Painting biblical and mythological figures were considered characteristically male subjects. Her artworks were so fascinating that Averardo de’ Medici did a biography of Artemisia Gentileschi on a four-volume book where its focus was important Pisan men —archbishops, military strategists, statesmen and more. Named Memorie istoriche di più uomini illustri pisani (Historical memoirs of the most illustrious Pisan men) considered by Medici as “the prominence of Artemisia’s biography is remarkable, as she is, besides the poet Maria Selvaggia Borghini, the only woman in Pisan history to merit a biography here” (Locker 165). The essay convicts that Artemisia must be taken seriously for her works of art. This document shows not just her influence on Averardo de’ Medici, but that Medici wrote an article for Artemisia Gentileschi in a book whereas the artist is neither Pisa or a man. Artemisia became a cult figure for the twentieth-century feminist revolutionary movements, a pioneer for women rights history.
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