No image yetArtemisia Gentileschi
Caravaggism · Italy
Artemisia Gentileschi
1593–1656 · Baroque dramatist of judgement and revenge
TenebrismBiblicalHistory paintingFemale protagonists
The short version
Trained in her father's Roman workshop, Gentileschi built a career across Florence, Venice and Naples at a time when women were barred from academies. Her tenebrist canvases put biblical heroines at the centre of the action rather than the margins.
Key works
No image yetJudith Slaying Holofernes
Judith Slaying Holofernes
c.1620
Physical labour of violence, rendered without allegorical softening.
View painting →No image yetSelf-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting
Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting
c.1638
She casts herself as the personification of the art itself.
View painting →No image yetSusanna and the Elders
Susanna and the Elders
1610
Painted at seventeen; the first version to show Susanna's distress from her side.
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Learn more
- Artemisia Gentileschi on Wikipedia
Biography, chronology and sources.