judith slaying holofernes is a painting by the italian early baroque artist artemisia gentileschi, completed between 1614–20. the work shows the scene of judith beheading holofernes, which had been common in art since the renaissance, as part of the group of subjects called 'the power of women', which show women triumphing over powerful men. the subject takes an episode from the apocryphal book of judith in the old testament, which recounts the assassination of the assyrian general holofernes by the israelite heroine, judith. the painting shows the moment when judith, helped by her maidservant, beheads the general after he has fallen asleep drunk.

i recently read a novel set in the art world (the reason why i even bought the book). i realized that when i read a book i subconsciously try to decide to myself what its aim is/was; does the author want to share something, make money, experience joy in the writing of it, what? because i could not feel the 'reason' of this one. but what it did, was introduce me to artemisia gentileschi. i was intrigued immediately and went to wiki. now i share some of it here, mostly copied and pasted.

artemisia gentileschi was born in rome on 8 july 1593, the eldest child of the tuscan painter orazio gentileschi, and prudentia montone.

artemisia was introduced to painting in her father's workshop, showing much more talent than her brothers, who worked alongside her. since her father's style took inspiration from caravaggio during that period, her style was just as heavily influenced in turn. her approach to subject matter was different from her father's, however, as her paintings are highly naturalistic. at the same time, artemisia had to resist the 'traditional attitude and psychological submission to this brainwashing and jealousy of her obvious talent'. by doing so, she gained great respect and recognition for her work. in 1611, her father was working with agostino tassi to decorate the vaults of casino della rose inside the pallavicini rospigliosi palace in rome, so orazio hired the painter to tutor his daughter privately. during this tutelage, tassi raped artemisia. another man, cosimo quorlis, was also involved. after the initial rape, artemisia continued to have sexual relations with tassi, with the expectation that they were going to be married and with the hope to restore her dignity and her future (i don't know what to think of this). tassi reneged on his promise to marry artemisia. nine months after the rape, when he learnt that artemisia and tassi were not going to be married, orazio pressed charges against tassi (i have a mouthful to say about this). orazio also claimed that tassi stole a painting of judith from the gentileschi household. the major issue of this trial was the fact that tassi had taken artemisia's virginity. if artemisia had not been a virgin before tassi raped her, the gentileschis would not have been able to press charges(what?!). during the ensuing seven-month trial, it was discovered that tassi had planned to murder his wife, had engaged in adultery with his sister-in-law, and planned to steal some of orazio's paintings. during the trial, artemisia was subjected to a gynecological examination and torture using thumbscrews to verify her testimony. at the end of the trial tassi was sentenced to imprisonment for one year, although he never served the time. the trial influenced the feminist view of artemisia gentileschi during the late twentieth century.

artemisia was surrounded mainly by the presence of males since the loss of her mother at age 12. when artemisia was 17, orazio rented the upstairs apartment of their home to a female tenant, tuzia. artemisia befriended tuzia; however, tuzia allowed agostino tassi and cosimo quorlis to accompany artemisia in artemisia's home on multiple occasions. the day the rape occurred, artemisia cried for the help of tuzia, but tuzia simply ignored artemisia and pretended she knew nothing of what happened. artemisia felt betrayed by tuzia, and because tuzia was the only female figure in her life, artemisia's works contains a strong sense of the importance of solidarity and unity between women, like in the painting below, called 'judith and her maidservant'

orazio later arranged for his daughter to marry, pierantonio stiattesi, a modest artist from florence. shortly afterward the couple moved there, where artemisia received a commission for a painting at casa buonarroti. she became a successful court painter, enjoying the patronage of the medici family and charles I. in florence, artemisia enjoyed huge success. she was the first woman accepted into the accedemia delle arti del disegno (academy of the arts of drawing). she maintained good relations with the most respected artists of her time, such as cristofano allori, and was able to garner the favours and the protection of influential people, starting with granduke cosimo II de' medici and especially, of the granduchess cristina. she had a good relationship with galileo galilei, with whom she corresponded by letter for a long time.

she was esteemed by michelangelo buonarroti the younger, (nephew of the great michelangelo): busy with construction of casa buonarroti to celebrate his notable relative, he asked artemisia to produce a painting to decorate the ceiling of the gallery of paintings. the painting represents an allegory of allegoria dell'inclinazione, 'allegory of the inclination (natural talent)', presented in the form of a nude young woman holding a compass. it is believed that the subject bears a resemblance to artemisia. indeed, in several of her paintings, artemisia's energetic heroines resemble her self-portraits.

her success and gender fueled many rumors about her private life. for example, some speculate that the case of her rape released her from societal pressures, having created an understanding of why some of her works were filled with defiant and violent women, rather than examining the style of those influencing hers.

the painting, giuditta che decapita oloferne (judith beheading holofernes) (1612–1613), displayed in the capodimonte museum of naples, is striking for the violence portrayed. a research paper by roberto longhi, an important italian critic, dated 1916, named gentileschi padre e figlia (gentileschi, father and daughter), described artemisia as 'the only woman in italy who ever knew about painting, coloring, doughing, and other fundamentals'. longhi also wrote of judith slaying holofernes: 'there are about fifty-seven works by artemisia gentileschi and 94% (forty-nine works) feature women as protagonists or equal to men'. these include her works of jael and sisera, judith (judith and her maidservant), and esther. these characters intentionally lacked the stereotypical 'feminine' traits - sensitivity, timidness, and weakness - and were courageous, rebellious, and powerful personalities'. a nineteenth-century personality commented on artemisia's magdalene stating, 'no one would have imagined that it was the work of a woman. the brush work was bold and certain, and there was no sign of timidness'.

it was said, 'who could think in fact that over a sheet so candid, a so brutal and terrible massacre could happen ... but - it's natural to say - this is a terrible woman! a woman painted all this? ... there's nothing sadistic here, instead what strikes the most is the impassibility of the painter, who was even able to notice how the blood, spurting with violence, can decorate with two drops the central spurt! incredible i tell you! and also please give mrs. schiattesi - the conjugal name of artemisia - the chance to choose the hilt of the sword! at last don't you think that the only aim of giuditta is to move away to avoid the blood which could stain her dress? we think anyway that that is a dress of casa gentileschi, the finest wardrobe in the europe during 1600, after van dyck.'

artemisia was once thought to have died in 1652/1653; however, recent evidence has shown that she was still accepting commissions in 1654, although she was increasingly dependent upon her assistant, onofrio palumbo.

some have speculated that she died in the devastating plague that swept naples in 1656 and virtually wiped out an entire generation of neapolitan artists.

here are some interesting facts that may overlap with the above:

artemisia's father, orazio gentileschi, was in prison with the most famous baroque artist of them all, caravaggio. in 1603, giovanni baglione brought a libel lawsuit against the pair for writing derogatory verses about his altarpiece.
in 1612, her father brought a lawsuit against his painting companion, agostino tassi, for raping his daughter, artemisia. it is worth noting that tassi had been imprisoned twice before (once for incest and the second time for arranging to have his wife murdered). in addition to these charges, agostino was also believed to have raped his first wife in tuscany. then, when he was living with his wife's sister, he had children with her. soon after, agostino's sister, olympia tassi bagellis, took him to court for incest with his sister-in-law.
during artemisia's rape trial, midwives physically examined her in front of a judge to see if she was still a virgin.
after the trial, she was quickly married off to another painter, pierantonio stiattesi, and the couple then moved to florence.
she was the first woman ever admitted into the accademia dell'arte del disegno in florence.
since she was a woman, she could paint live nude female models. this gave her an advantage over male painters, who were prevented from using live female nude models. (what?? where do all the nude girls come from?)
galileo and artemisia gentileschi knew each other: they both had connections to the grand ducal court in florence, and they were both members of the accademia del disegno.
gentileschi must have learned a thing or two from galileo, since the depiction of blood squirting in 'judith slaying holofernes' (c. 1620) is in accordance with his discovery of the parabolic path of projectiles.
'judith slaying holofernes' (c. 1620) was most likely made for cosimo iI de' medici, the grand duke of tuscany, who hid the painting from view as he believed it was too horrifying to behold.
artemisia gentileschi painted a panel entitled 'inclinazione', commissioned by michelangelo buonarotti the younger, inside of florence's casa buonarotti. her first art exhibition was held, incredibly, in 1991 at the same casa. it is worth noting that up until her rediscovery in the late 20th century, many of her works had been attributed to her father or largely ignored by critics and art historians.

(for the sake of a tag i tag anyone who reads this to be creative with anything 'visual art'. i would love to read it, if you would tag me to its page)

seasofme210616

judith and her maidservant (1613 - 1614) by artemisia gentileschi