Evaluate The Work Of Artemisia Gentileschi Renaissance Artist

Artemisia Gentileschi
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Artemisia Gentileschi
A Renaissance Italian painter, Artemisia Gentileschi is one of the most influential and significant female painters in history. Being a painter in a time where female artists were disregarded and ignored, Artemisia Gentileschi overcame endless obstacles, becoming a success story that has been recognized and celebrated globally. Scholars, feminist activists, and critics acknowledge and celebrate the unique and informative works created Artemisia, characterizing her as a skillful, and independent female artist whose workplace her as an early feminist. Her life, achievements, challenges, and controversies surrounding has been a subject of numerous interpretations, with early feminism taking lead and beating all odds to become both a famed and successful painter. Artemisia Gentileschi’s struggle for self-expression and professional independence against a repressive patriarchal establishment and in an era that undervalued female artists produced a remarkable and early feminist whose work has inspired numerous feminist movements in art.
In a successful career spanning over four decades, Artemisia Gentileschi rose in the ranks to become one of the most influential female artists of all times. Born in the 16th century, Artemisia became a significant figure in her field, becoming successful in a field that was traditionally considered a man’s job (Bissell, 1968). The chronology recorded by Bissell (1968) notes that Gentileschi was born in an average family that comprised of the father and mother, Orazio Gentileschi and Prudential Montone, and five brothers. Artemisia achieved prominence in her work at a time when women were considered inferior to men, marking a critical achievement for her as a female painter. Her struggles are evident in her early life when she was raped by Agostino Tassi, her father’s friend turned rapist and her subsequent victory in the rape trial that lead to the jailing of Agostino Tassi (Bissell, 1968; Cohen, 2000). Despite her humble beginnings, Gentileschi rose to become an influential painter whose work is admired to date.
The artistic success of Artemisia Gentileschi is attributable to her never-ending desire to learn, her passion and expert painting skills, as well as the unwavering support of her father. From an early age, Lajta-Novak (2012) notes that Orazio Gentileschi, Artemisia’s father tutored her daughter, turning her into a successful and influential artist. Criswell (2016) contends that her father was an important figure in the development of her painting career. Despite the patriarchal establishment of her era, Orazio Gentileschi brought charges against Agostino Tassi, his friend, a year after raping Artemisia (Cohen, 2000). Despite the rape bringing shame, anxiety, damaged reputation, and pain of torture and sexual assault, Artemisia testified against her rapist to salvage both her reputation and her career. In the aftermath of the trial, her reputation was restored following the completion of her most famous drawing, Judith Beheading Holofernes (Lajta-Novak, 2012). Artemisia’s self-dedication in art helped her overcome societal objections, becoming a notable figure in art in history.
Artemisia’s personal experiences and self-drive in a patriarchal society shaped her journey in art, projecting her image as a unique, skillful, and respected painter. Criswell (2016) notes that women generally held supportive works in painting and their work, if any, narrowed to mainly informal domestic-themed devotional paintings. Artemisia, on the other hand, has a different approach as an artist. In her quest for self-expression and professional independence as a female painter, her work majored on biblical women and heroines. Notably, Judith Slaying Holofernes is a representation of women taking charge and using their physical capabilities and superiority over men to assert dominance (Wing 2016). This depiction can be interpreted as the anticipated victory against Agostino Tassi, after which Tassi was convicted for rape. Similarly, Criswell (2016) interprets the painting as a fight to regain her reputation and status that had been stained following the rape. Similar to the story of biblical Judith, Artemisia rescued her reputation, becoming a successful female painter in Italy and beyond.
Artemisia Gentileschi is rightly regarded as an early feminist, who strongly opposed the patriarchal establishment, objectification of women, and the societal devaluation of women. After her rape and being subsequently married off, Artemisia Gentileschi disregarded her husband after the birth of their daughter, moving out on her own to pursue an independent career as a painter (Bissell, 1968). Lajta-Novak (2012) asse...