Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
Susanna and The Elders
Artemisia painted "The Angel" as decoration for the Casa Buonarroti Galleria. This was a huge honor since she was such a young artist at the time.
The work shows anatomical accuracy and advanced color and construction. Her father may have guided her with the design and execution of the painting. The painting portrays the biblical story of Susanna, a young wife sexually harassed by the elders of her community. Artemisia takes the female perspective and shows Susanna as vulnerable and frightened by their demands.
She used dramatic realism and chiaroscuro (contrasting light and dark). Michaelangelo is a huge influence to her style. She tried to paint her subjects as realistic as possible, and that often included nudes. However, while most of her subjects' faces were emotionless, their emotions can be depictred through their actions. Her work emphasized the Renaissance value of humanism and individualism, because she painted many portraits. Her subjects had natural poses and her paintings used perspective and depth.
Works Cited
The Angel
Artemisia was born in Rome on July 8th, 1593. She was the daughter of Orazio Gentileschi and Prudentia Montone, however; her mother died when she was twelve. She was raised Christian. Artemisia was the eldest of five children and the only one to show artistic skill. When her father recognised her abilities, he began tutoring her because women were rarely accepted into art academies. She grew up in an area of Rome, Via della Croce, which was populated by a variety of artists. Her art tutor, a man named Tassi, raped Artemisia when she was a little girl, and this later affected her artwork. The women in her paintings are powerful and strong women who are getting revenge on the men. During Artemisia's childhood, Rome was undergoing a dramatic transformation under Pope Sixtus V, with the creation of large architectural spaces and the building of many new churches. Artemisia's career first flourished in Florence, where she lived with her husband, Pierantonio Stiattesi, and her daughter, Prudentia. She was accepted into a painters' academy, befriended Galileo Galilei, and was protected by the powerful de' Medici family. Her works included historic and biblical subjects that featured a female protagonist, commonly Susanna, Bathsheba, Esther, Judith. At first, her work was crediited to her father, but she is now regognized as one of the most talented female artists of that time period. Books, films, and plays have been written about her.
Jael and Sisera
The Penitent Magdalene
"Artemisia Gentileschi." Art and the Bible. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. <http://www.artbible.info/art/biography/artemisia-gentileschi>.
Parker, Christine. "Artemisia Gentileschi." The Life and Art of Artemisia Gentileschi. Christine Parker, 2011. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. <http://www.artemisia-gentileschi.com/index.shtml>.
Artemisia chose another biblical scene for her this painting. As the story goes, Sisera was a harsh ruler who led the Israelites for twenty years. Sisera escaped an attack and hid out in the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. When he fell asleep, she drove a tent peg into his brain.
Sisera's face in the painting resembles Caravaggio, one of Artemisia's artisitc influences. He had killed an officer in Rome, and was later jailed for assaulting a Knight of Malta. Some think Artemisia is declaring herself superior to the man who so influenced her style and who was a leader of Roman art.
Female Martyr
This painting portrays Mary Magdalene, the biblical prostitute who repents and follows Jesus. The dress' gold color officially earned the name "Artemisia Gold." "The Penitent Magdalene" uses many techniques such as shadowing, realism, chiaroscuro to contrast light and dark, and sfumato (fading to show distance). This also shows the Renaissance value of individualism.
Artemisia's usual chiaroscuro is softened, more in the style of her father. Shadowing is also used. This was Artemisia Gentileschi's smallest painting.
Photo based on: 'horizon' by pierreyves @ flickr