Judith Slaying Holofernes, Artemisia Gentileschi. 1618-1620.
Artemisia is recognized as the first female Renaissance painter. Women were not allowed into art academies until the 1800s, so if they wanted to learn they had to do it on their own or, if they were very lucky, have their dad teach them. In this case, Orazio Gentileschi (my favorite piece from him) taught his daughter Artemisia everything he knew and had learned from Caravaggio and the other masters of the time.
The reason she was so successful was because women weren’t allowed into art academies, not even female models. All men used male models, which is why all the ladies looked like heavy weight champs. But women could use female models! And Artemisia did, and she did it very well.
The other reason this painting is so cool is because the subject was tackled most famously by Caravaggio (the big dog at the time) in 1598. In his rendition of Judith Slaying Holofernes, Judith is weak and timid and her handmaid is old and horrified and wants nothing to do with the act. In Artemisia’s, there is determination in Judith’s pose and expression, and a companionship between her and her handmaid. She gained a ton of respect for this painting. Interestingly enough, this was not the first time she had tackled this subject.
In 1612, she was repeatedly raped by Agostino Tassi, an artist her father, Orazio, had hired to teach her. Artemisia and Orazio filed suit against him. In a not terribly surprising turn of events, Artemisia was put on trial instead, tortured to see if she was lying and thoroughly examined to test whether she had been a virgin when she was raped. After a long trial and accusations of being an “insatiable whore,” Tassi was convicted after it was discovered he had raped his sister-in-law, too.
Soon after the trial (1612-1613, six years before the one pictured above), she produced this version of Judith Beheading Holofernes, in which I would argue Judith looks almost cheerful.
