A Hidden Chapter of Art History: Artemisia Gentileschi, the Baroque Fighter

When we speak of contemporary art, we are used to seeing women artists standing boldly alongside men, but how many Renaissance or Baroque women painters or sculptors could you name? You would probably struggle to recall even one. Does this mean women did not paint in those days? That they created nothing of value? The truth is that the situation for women of that era who wished to paint was a difficult one. At best, Baroque artists regarded a woman as a muse, an object of beauty intended for the male gaze. Naked female bodies, a submissive gaze and perfect forms — this was the Baroque woman in art. It was only in the twentieth century that the story of Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the first Baroque women painters, who managed to win a place for herself in the male world of art, came to light in art history. Since Artemisia's figure was undoubtedly exceptional within Baroque art, we will explore her art and her life here.

"Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting," 1638 (photo: Wikicommons)

Sources confirming an exact biography of Artemisia are lacking, but based on those available, it is said that she was born in 1593 and died in 1653. Artemisia grew up surrounded by art, for her mother died when she was thirteen, and her father was the painter Orazio Gentileschi, a friend of Caravaggio, so from an early age she was introduced not only to art and its entire "kitchen," but also to the painters themselves.

Although she attracted major interest only in the twentieth century, she was well known in her own time too, but she did not receive large and significant commissions from patrons simply because she was a woman, and the respectable women of Rome at that time hid behind the thick walls of their homes. They rarely went out into the street, let alone worked, yet Artemisia, whose father was a painter, had excellent opportunities open to her. The girl's talent for art became apparent very early, and having noticed this, her father decided she needed to be trained further. Gentileschi's father sent her to study with his friend Agostino Tassi. Unfortunately, the fruits of this education were bitter, and soon a court case was initiated by the young painter's father, in which A. Tassi was accused of rape. From the surviving court documents, it can be said that Artemisia was a determined woman; after the rape, as she stated in court, she threatened Tassi: "I would like to kill you with this knife, because you have humiliated me." She threw a knife at her attacker, but he managed to get away. Thus, at the start of the seventeenth century, Artemisia went to trial against a painter who was at the time well known and valued by the Pope. The trial lasted seven months and shook all of Rome. Unfortunately, thanks to his powerful connections, A. Tassi was not punished, and Artemisia never recovered her reputation. It goes without saying that the trauma she suffered marked not only her personal life but also her creative path as a painter.

About six years ago, Kathleen Gilje used X-rays to examine the painter's work "Susanna and the Elders" (you can find the photo here) and discovered painted-over layers that revealed the influence of the artist's biography on her paintings. Although the painter depicted the story of Susanna and the Elders, in which a young woman, like Artemisia herself, is assaulted by two old men while bathing in a garden (the fabric across Susanna's knees is a symbol of bathing, cleanliness and innocence, which lies crumpled on her knees and does not cover her nakedness), she wanted to convey a more personal interpretation. The X-ray revealed that in the original version of the painting, resistance was depicted: the girl being pulled by the hair, her neck strained so that every vein is visible, and holding a knife in one hand. Such a depiction is directly linked to the events of her biography. Unfortunately, this interpretation was later painted over, leaving the version in which Susanna recoils from the elders with her whole body and the gestures of her hands betray resistance, but without the same dramatic intensity as before.

"Susanna and the Elders," 1610 (photo: Wikicommons)

Interestingly, the painter's work is attributed to both the Renaissance and the Baroque, since her early paintings still show Renaissance features, while later on the expression of the early and mature Baroque becomes evident. In the painting "Susanna and the Elders," painted in 1610, the pronounced chiaroscuro typical of the Baroque is not yet visible; the background is a bright sky, an expression characteristic of the Renaissance. Oil paints were used on canvas. The colours are vivid, and bright daylight is visible, which is also characteristic of Renaissance painting. The emerging Baroque can be seen in the shadows — between the elders, whose shadows are so dark that they conceal half of the face; in Susanna's face, too, half of the face is hidden in shadow. The concealment or highlighting of the depicted figures with the help of shadows is one of the most characteristic features of the Baroque. The painting was created according to the compositional principles prevailing at the time, that is, a central composition using the golden ratio rule, with the painting divided into horizontals, thereby maintaining harmonious proportions.

The importance of this painting has grown especially in the last decade, as more and more attention is paid to the position of women in social life throughout history, and feminism is popular in almost every part of the world. Examples such as Artemisia's speak of the power held by men in European culture and the patriarchal system that prevailed in the Baroque era, and they prompt us to consider how relevant this still is today, and how much, or how little, has changed in four hundred years.