Artemisia Gentileschi: Breaking Rules In Baroque Italy

Dr. Meghan Callahan

Artemisia Gentileschi is one of the most famous female painters of the early modern era. Her works now command millions at auction, but in her own time she complained of being underpaid. In this course, we’ll examine Artemisia’s unusual life as a female painter and her travels across the Italian peninsula in search of patrons and fame. By examining how male painters such as her father Orazio, Caravaggio, and Titian influenced her style, and investigating how Artemisia in turn influenced Neapolitan painters we’ll hone connoisseurship skills. Using methods that go back to Giorgio Vasari, we’ll also look at the power of biography for understanding – and sometimes misunderstanding – an artist’s choices and career. Finally, we’ll question what it meant in the Baroque era when a woman’s place was not in the home, but in the studio.

Course objectives:
·      To understand possibilities for women artists in the early modern era
·      To develop an eye for recognizing consistencies in an artist’s style
·      To critically debate how biography impacts an artist’s output
·      To reflect on the importance of travel for artists in the Renaissance and Baroque eras

Lecture 1 - Artemisia Gentileschi: Self-portraits

Artemisia’s work has often been confused with that of her father, Orazio. Connoisseurship has often been overshadowed by biography in her case, as well as a reliance on the belief that she almost always painted herself into her art. We’ll talk about if we can recognize her hand in her work through deep looking, and the deeper meanings of self-portraiture.

Resources: Mary Garrard, “Artemisia’s Hand,” in The Artemisia Files: Artemisia Gentileschi for Feminists and Other thinking people, ed. Mieke Bal, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005),  pp. 1-31; Eileen Kinsella, “The National Gallery (finally) buys a portrait of Artemisia Gentileschi” https://news.artnet.com/market/national-portrait-gallery-shells-record-4-million-artemesia-gentileschi-self-portrait-1314446 ; Guerrilla Girls, “Do Women have to be Naked to get into the Met. Museum?” 1989.

Lecture 2 - Artemisia Gentileschi: Travels to Florence and Venice
Born in Rome, Artemisia lived in Florence and Naples and travelled to Venice and London. Both male and female artists travelled, but when women moved to different cities, they carried heavier burdens of behavior along with their luggage. In this first section, we’ll investigate why Artemisia moved to Florence and then to Venice, and the effect her travels had on her art.

Resources: Sheila Barker, “A new document concerning Artemisia Gentileschi’s marriage,” The Burlington Magazine, 156 (December 2014):  p. 803-804; Jesse Locker, Artemisia Gentileschi, The Language of Painting, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015, “Chapter Three: Donne forti ed intrepide. Artemisia and Venetian painting,” pp. 68-84.

Lecture 3: Artemisia Gentileschi: Travels to Naples and London
After Venice, Artemisia went to Naples. Her time in Naples led to new experiments with color and built up her reputation.  While living there, she made a trip to London to work with her father Orazio at the court of King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria. Although there is little information on Artemisia’s stay, we can get a sense of what life in 17th century London was like for Orazio, and how she fit in.

Resources: Jesse Locker, Artemisia Gentileschi, The Language of Painting, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015, “Chapter Four: “Artemisia in the Eyes of the Neapolitan Poets,” pp. 100-124; Gabriele Finaldi and Jeremy Wood, “Orazio Gentileschi at the Court of Charles I,” in Keith Christiansen and Judith W. Mann (eds) Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2002, 223-231.

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