“Judith Slaying Holofernes” is an oil painting by an Italian female artist of the early Baroque period; Artemisia Gentileschi. This oil painting in particular was completed between 1614 and 1620 (Wikipedia). Gentileschi has a style of painting that often reflects certain events in her past and how it has impacted her thoughts and feelings. “Judith Slaying Holofernes” is a religious-based painting depicting the moment when Judith assassinated general Holofernes with the help of her maidservant. For a woman in the 17th century, she was very successful and was the very first woman to enter the art academy known as “Accademia Delle Arti del Disegno” or “Florence’s Academy of Design”. Today, she is considered to be the first successful professional …show more content…
female painter. Gentileschi and her work have become nothing less than iconic and the mark she left in this world symbolized a great change for women in the early 1600s. In order to analyze the artwork further, one must first understand the artist that created it.
Artemisia Gentileschi was born July 8, 1593 in Rome, Italy. She was trained from an early age in the world of art by her father Orazio Gentileschi, another well-accomplished painter. Both Artemisia and her father were heavily influenced by the early Baroque dramatic-realism style Caravaggio had in his works. Orazio even formed a brief friendship with him when they both were incarcerated. Artemisia finished her first signed painting of “Susanna and the Elders,” when she was only 17. She struggled to find an art academy that would accept her. “Rejected by art academies, Gentileschi was privately tutored by her father’s friend Agostino Tassi, who ended up taking advantage of her [with the promise to marry her]” (Shen p. 33). When he did not marry her, the Gentileschis sued him. For the duration of the trial, Artemisia was relentlessly interrogated and tortured for the sake of drawing out the ‘truth’ from her. “Across the court sat the man who had raped her. No one thought of torturing him. Defiantly, Gentileschi told him her thumbscrews were the wedding ring he’d promised.” (Jones) It is said that Artemisia painted “Judith Slaying Holofernes” whilst the agonizing 7-month trial was in …show more content…
progress. In Artemisia’s work, “Judith Slaying Holofernes” you see she modeled Judith after herself and Holofernes as Agostino Tassi, further inferring her feelings towards him and it has been seen to be her “psychological revenge on Tassi” (Getlein P.392).
The religious-based story behind the painting is about the time when Holofernes was sent to subdue the Jews in Bethulia, only to be seduced and beheaded by Judith in order to stop him. The heroic women later shows a bag with his severed head to the rest of the town to prove he was gone (of which Artemisia also painted). Artemisia’s portrayal of this is considered much more brutal than other depictions. For example, Caravaggio's depiction shows Judith as a dainty sort of woman that doesn’t seem to actually have the strength to decapitate Holofernes. In Artemisia’s artwork, Judith is gripping Holofernes’s hair and holding his head down in place while she drags his sword through his neck. Her handmaiden is also helping her by holding him down. I also notice both of their sleeves are rolled up, contributing to the realism of the work. Artemisia continues with the trend of putting female characters in powerful
positions. Being a woman in the early 17th century, saying that she was very successful is an understatement. “She became the first woman ever to enter the prestigious art academy, the Accademia Delle Arti del Disegno, where she became buddies with Galileo. She went on to have a long career as a court painter in Florence, Naples, and England”(Porath p. 320). Being as successful as she was, she definitely paved the road to opening more opportunities for women of the time. After her death, she was virtually forgotten until the 20th century, where she had her own art exhibit in 1991. Historians have since worked to secure the prevalence of her name (Porath p. 320). Artemisia Gentileschi is well known for her work, what she symbolized, and what she overcame in her lifetime. I see that she demonstrates her feelings in each in every one of her works. I can also see that she sees herself in each of these powerful women that she paints. I find that she is significant because of what she symbolized in the 17th century; a big milestone for women.
I had never heard of the artist Artemisia Gentileschi before this introductory Art course. Of all the paintings and sculptures found within the book, it was her work that stood out and spoke to me. "Judith and Maidservant with the head of Holofernes" is a particularly rich oil painting by the Italian Gentileschi, painted circa 1625 Europe. Her large canvas measures 72 and 1/2 inches by 55 and 3/4 inches and began as a biblical story telling inspiration come to life within the oil. Located at the Detroit Institute of Arts, the painting was a gift to the institute from Art collector Mr. Leslie H. Green in 1952. Artemisia was the daughter of a painter (and caravaggio influenced) Orazio Gentileschi, she was also the wife of little known artist Pierantonio Stiattesi. Artemisia had four sons and one daughter during her marriage. A student of the Chiaroscuro technique and during a time when women were not believed capable of painting competitively and intelligently as the men of the day. Artemisia proved them wrong with stunning work and artistry over her artistic career.
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1654?) was one of the most important women artists before the modern period and certainly one of the most famous female painters from the seventeenth century. Gentileschi’s paintings regularly featured women as the protagonists acting in a manner equal to men. In fact, forty nine of her paintings fall into this category. She was raped at the age of 18 and the subsequent events lent her a certain amount of notoriety. These factors have led many to interpret her artwork as an expression of her role as a female victim looking for revenge through her art. Instead, a closer examination of Gentileschi’s life and her artwork exposes the artist as an individual with personal strength and incredible talent who painted subjects similar to or the same as those of her male counterparts, instead of staying within the guiding principles of what was acceptable “feminine” art.
The subject of Gentileschi's Judith and Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes uses tenebrism that makes use for the large areas of dark contrasting with the smaller bright areas of the painting. This painting is very dramatic considering multiple areas of darkness, such as the deep shadows. Judith could be holding out her hand to cover the light from her face to take a glimpse to see if anyone’s approaching them. She seems to be vigilant and she could also be stopping someone from
Women were not allowed to draw naked people, so instead she painted women in informal environments as seen in “The Chess Game”. Her paintings helped break gender and class barriers and led the way for women to be accepted in society as artists. Historian Whitney Chadwick wrote that she was “placed her within a critical category of her own”. (New World Encyclopaedia, 2012) During the middle ages, the only artists were nuns, and Sofonisba’s newfound success influenced the art of today. Many famous male renaissance artists copied her artwork style, which can be seen in the works of Peter Paul Rubens. Giorgio Vasari, the first art historian credited her work: “…she has not only succeeded in drawing, colouring, and copying from nature, and in making excellent copies of works by other hands, but has also executed by herself alone some very choice and beautiful works of painting.” (Oxford,
By most accounts, the year 1500 was in the midst of the height of the Italian Renaissance. In that year, Flemmish artist Jean Hey, known as the “Master of Moulins,” painted “The Annunciation” to adorn a section of an alter piece for his royal French patrons. The painting tells the story of the angel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary to deliver the news that she will give birth to the son of God. As the story goes, Mary, an unwed woman, was initially terrified about the prospects of pregnancy, but eventually accepts her fate as God’s servant. “The Annunciation” is an oil painting on a modest canvas, three feet tall and half as wide. The setting of the painting is a study, Mary sitting at a desk in the bottom right hand corner reading, and the angel Gabriel behind her holding a golden scepter, perhaps floating and slightly off the canvas’s center to the left. Both figures are making distinct hand gestures, and a single white dove, in a glowing sphere of gold, floats directly above Mary’s head. The rest of the study is artistic but uncluttered: a tiled floor, a bed with red sheets, and Italian-style architecture. “The Annunciation” was painted at a momentous time, at what is now considered the end of the Early Renaissance (the majority of the 15th Century) and the beginning of the High Renaissance (roughly, 1495 – 1520). Because of its appropriate placement in the Renaissance’s timeline and its distinctly High Renaissance characteristics, Jean Hey’s “Annunciation” represents the culmination of the transition from the trial-and-error process of the Early Renaissance, to the technical perfection that embodied the High Renaissance. Specifically, “Annunciation” demonstrates technical advancements in the portrayal of the huma...
The Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance who painted many famous works. The Annunciation 1485, this picture is one of the jewels of 15th century Italian art, embodying the achievement that made Florence so famous and influential. On the other hand, the annunciation 1475 painted by Early Netherlandish Han Memling is one of the largest surviving depiction of the annunciation, with the varied composition in the work. Both works represented the European painting in that period, with different painting technique, and offers artists ways of skills. The artists depicted the human form, and architectural spaces, and illustrated the relationship between both, as well as the elements of the subject matter were expressed. Han Memling used the motif and styles which created a great effect.
CELESTINE BOHLEN, “Elusive Heroine Of the Baroque; Artist Colored by Distortion, Legend and a Notorious Trial”, New York Times, Published February 18, 2002
Artemisia was born on July 8 of 1652 in Naples, Italy. She has been credited as one of the most famous female artists of the Baroque period. Her father, Orazio Gentileschi, helped her develop her skills as he was an artist as well. In her early life, she lost her mother at the age of twelve years of age, which may have led to her style of artwork. Another possible contributing factor is that she was raped by one of her father’s colleagues named Agastino Tassi. She married a Florence painter named Pietro Antonio di Vicenzo Stiattesi, and moved to Florence with him. Together, they had one female child. She befriended many artists, thinkers, and writers during her time, which included Galileo the astronomer. She was a female artist in a male dominated art world of her time, and succeeded at standing out.
Both Jan van Eyck and Fra Angelico were revered artists for the advances in art that they created and displayed for the world to see. Their renditions of the Annunciation were both very different, however unique and perfect display of the typical styles used during the Renaissance. Jan van Eyck’s panel painting Annunciation held all the characteristics of the Northern Renaissance with its overwhelming symbolism and detail. Fra Angelico’s fresco Annunciation grasped the key elements used in the Italian Renaissance with usage of perspective as well as displaying the interest and knowledge of the classical arts.
The composition of this painting forces the eye to the woman, and specifically to her face. Although the white wedding dress is large and takes up most of the woman’s figure, the white contrasts with her face and dark hair, forcing the viewer to look more closely into the woman’s face. She smokes a cigarette and rests her chin on her hands. She does not appear to be a very young woman and her eyes are cast down and seem sad. In general, her face appears to show a sense of disillusionment with life and specifically with her own life. Although this is apparently her wedding day, she does not seem to be happy.
Sofonisba Anguissola was one of the most prominent female painters of the Renaissance. Not only was she one of only four women mentioned by Giorgio Vasari in his famous Lives of the Artists, she also paved the way for later female artists. One may look at Sofonisba’s upbringing and assume that her talents were a result of her wealth and family background. However, if investigated more carefully through both analytical secondary sources and primary sources, it becomes clear that Sofonisba’s painting abilities formed because of her talent, not her wealth. Sofonisba integrated herself into the artistic community and used her second-class status as a female painter to accelerate her career: because she was not able to study as an apprentice in a workshop, her models were usually family members, she pioneered the style of genre painting. Historian Joan Kelly argues in her essay, “Did Women Have a Renaissance?” that women did not experience a Renaissance during the actual Renaissance. Sofonisba’s training and connections were extremely helpful to launch her career, refuting Kelly’s argument that women only were taught “charm” during the Renaissance. In addition, Sofonisba married her second husband for love, not for money, debunking Kelly’s argument that marriages during the Renaissance were not based on love. Though Sofonisba’s life as a woman is a unique case in terms of wealth and profession, her success and fame, talent, and marriage (van dyck?) disprove Kelly’s argument that women did not have a Renaissance during the Renaissance.
Frida was born around the beginning of the Mexican Revolution and the overthrowing of the President of Mexico,Porfirio Diaz. However, Artemisia Gentileschi was from the Baroque period; the baroque period was a more peaceful era than the mexican revolution. The baroque period consisted of poets, painting, architecture, and etc. The way that Artemisia learned to paint was from her father, who was also a painter. Her life did not consist of butterflies and daisies. She experienced of the most heartbreaking thing a child could come to know; her father died when she was
The women in art history have used their passions to bring about a necessary change and bring women out of the shadows to which she has been pushed into over the centuries. Making painting their own they bring a new life and expression into the female personalities portrayed that men are not yet able to achieve. Showing the world where they stand and what they are willing to go through shows the strength in character a woman really has and that she is not the equivalent of a bowl of fruit or a vase of flowers in a man’s painting but so much more. These women are an inspiration because even though they lived in a society that thought them week and incapable they proved their strength and determination.
Rossetti shows us the woman being painted as many different things. Although she is just a painting, the woman symbolizes how the artist views women in real life: as objects. Irony is used when the woman is painted as “a queen”(5). She is put on a pedestal in a position of power, yet she is only described as being “in [an] opal or ruby dress”(5), cementing her role as an ornament. The ruby symbolizes passion and perhaps promiscuity. Opal is a white stone that reflects many colors. White symbolizes purity; while the different colors reflected symbolize how her meaning can change, and how the artist controls her identity and can make her fit any persona he desires. The woman is also depicted as a “nameless girl”(6), indicating her identity is not important to the artist. It also shows that he does not personally know the women he’s painting, but only their looks, affirming that he bases their value off of their appearances. Lastly, the artist portrays a woman as “a saint [and] an angel”(7) and compares her to the “moon”(11), an allusion to Artemis, the goddess of virginity. In this painting, she is established as a pure virgin, which was a requirement of the time period Rossetti lived in. However, because it is one of the fantasies the artist creates, and the poem antagonizes him, this line also expresses the idea that a woman’s purity should not define her. He makes the innocent virgin and the licentious queen the only ways women can be viewed. Yet, they are the same to him. Lacking depth, their physical description is the only thing giving them any meaning. Rossetti describing the portraits conveys the idea that no matter the position in society; or what their actual personalities are like, women are just blank canvases for men to project their fantasies onto. Uninterested in a real person, the artist worships the idea of a
Located in a hallway nestled between the Art of Europe and Art of Ancient Worlds wings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is the Italian Renaissance Gallery (Gallery 206). Here, Donatello’s Madonna of the Clouds and Luca della Robbia’s Virgin and child with lilies face one another, vying for museum-goers’ attention from alternate sides of the narrow gallery. Both pieces indulge ingenious techniques, original at the time of conception, to create a completely new visual experience of a very traditional biblical scene, the Virgin Mary with her child, Jesus Christ. This paper will employ close visual analysis of two 15th-century Renaissance reliefs from Florence depicting the Virgin Mary and Jesus Chris in order to show how these artists used innovative