Gentileschi, Artemisia

Gentileschi, Artemisia

(är'tāmē`zhə jān'tēlĕs`kē), c.1597–c.1652, Tuscan painter, daughter and pupil of Orazio GentileschiGentileschi, Orazio
, c.1562–c.1639, Tuscan painter, b. Pisa. His real surname was Lomi, but he adopted his uncle's name. He studied in Rome, where he was associated with Agostino Tassi in the decoration of palace interiors.
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, b. Rome. She studied under Agostino Tassi, her father's collaborator, who was convicted of raping the teen-age Artemisia in 1612. Over the years, she has been portrayed as a strumpet, a feminist victim or heroine, and an independent woman of her era and her life has been fictionalized in several novels and plays. In purely artistic terms, she achieved renown for her spirited execution and admirable use of chiaroscuro in the style of CaravaggioCaravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da
or Amerigi da Caravaggio
, 1571–1610, Italian painter. His surname, Caravaggio, came from his birthplace. After an apprenticeship in Milan, he arrived (1592) in Rome where he eventually became a retainer of Cardinal Francesco
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, and during her life she achieved both success and fame. In 1616 she became the first woman admitted to the Academy of Design in Florence. About 1638 she visited England, where she was in great demand as a portraitist. Among her works are Judith and Holofernes (Uffizi); Mary Magdalen (Pitti Gall., Florence); Christ among the Doctors (N.Y. Historical Society); and a self-portrait (Hampton Court, England).