NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART • BULLETIN • NUMBER 61 • FALL 2019 OF ART • BULLETIN

38 casva Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts

Women in the Archive

iography is never far from the sur- Whether their subject is Michelangelo the very substance of life and art. Only face of art history. Despite many Buonarroti or Michelangelo da , more, rather than less, information inaccuracies, Giorgio Vasari’s Paul Cézanne or Jean-Michel Basquiat, from the archive can establish the expe- BLives of the Most Excellent Painters, many CASVA fellows have been involved riences that formed Artemisia’s artistic Sculptors, and Architects (Florence, 1550 in biographical research. personality. and 1568) retains its status as the first Few early modern women artists was the child modern history of art. Life writing con- have, however, enjoyed biographical of an orphaned father. Orazio Lomi tinued as the primary genre even for treatment. During her 2017 – 2018 (1563 – 1639) was sent to Rome from Vasari’s critics, among whom Carlo fellowship, Babette Bohn completed a at the age of twelve and left in Cesare Malvasia was the most promi- book on women artists in seventeenth- the care of an uncle, whose name nent. His Felsina pittrice (Bologna, 1678), century Bologna, investigating why the he took (fig. 1). He established him- the subject of a CASVA research project, city provided such a favorable environ- self as an artist, and he and his wife, sets out to correct Vasari’s bias in favor ment for their work. Outside Bologna, Prudenzia Montone, baptized their first of the Florentine tradition and to write Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 – after child Artemisia in 1593. The family was a documented history, but Malvasia did August 1654) is an exception in many soon subject to the shocks of change. not challenge the importance of biogra- ways. Anna Banti’s renowned novel Orazio’s manner was suddenly outdated phy itself. Rejection came among Artemisia (1947) is an imaginative recon- by the audacious realism of Caravag- eighteenth-century proponents of a pure struction of the author’s biographical gio. His almost-immediate response to history of style, and found reinforce- research destroyed in Florence in 1944. Caravaggio is manifest in his work, and ment in Heinrich Wölfflin’s “art history Alessandra Lapierre’s Artemisia: The the documentary evidence for their rela- without names” in the early twentieth Story of a Battle for Greatness (1998) is tionship establishes that insults, violence, century. More recently, biographical both a narrative biography and a novel; and the raw life of the studio were all approaches have enjoyed a revival. the archival material it contains makes around Artemisia as she grew up. Then, it essential reading for the historian. on December 26, 1605, her mother died These genre-defying modern biog- in childbirth. At the age of twelve, raphies reflect the continuing debate Artemisia was responsible for her three about the relationship between the younger brothers. life and the work. Again, the case It was not obvious that Artemisia of Artemisia Gentileschi is especially would learn her father’s art. She was, challenging. The inquiry instigated by however, extraordinarily talented and her father in 1612 established that his quickly learned the new way of working colleague Agostino Tassi had raped her from models in the studio. It was a and dishonored the family. Modern bad day for the Gentileschi family publication of the trial documents led when Orazio introduced Agostino Tassi to a focus on Artemisia as both victim into his household, supposedly to teach and heroine, who represented her Artemisia perspective, for he was an revenge in paintings of powerful women irascible character, a sexual predator. defeating men. In response, it has been The widely held view that Artemisia’s argued that all this should be set aside Judith Beheading Holofernes, now at the in favor of looking only at Artemisia’s Capodimonte, capitalizes on her desire work. Yet the relationship between life for revenge after her physical attack Fig. 1. Lucas Emil Vorsterman after Sir and work is especially complex among seems quite justifiable. Artemisia’s , Orazio Gentileschi, painters in seventeenth-century , expression of the reality of the moment state ii/vi, probably 1626/1641, engraving, when the embodied passions, their exceeds anything produced by her Rosenwald Collection expression and representation, were father, or even Caravaggio. NUMBER 61 • FALL 2019

39

Artemisia escaped from scandal to Fig. 2. Orazio Gentileschi, The Lute Player, Florence in 1613. The recently discov- c. 1612/1620, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon ered agreement of August 1612 for her Bruce Fund marriage to Pierantonio Stiattesi reveals that Orazio provided his daughter with early version of the subject (fig. 3) is a generous dowry and the authority to shocking in its directness and physical control it. His hopes to follow her to presence, demonstrating her mastery of Florence were dashed, however, when Caravaggio’s manner. Likely modeled on the grand duchess was warned about his her own features, this musician demands bad character. After Orazio threatened our engagement. the couple on their return to Rome in Artemisia Gentileschi was the first 1620, father and daughter went their woman to join the Accademia del different ways; Artemisia’s husband Disegno in Florence. In his research also disappears. project dedicated to the Accademia di My own archival work has revealed San Luca in Rome, Peter Lukehart is that between 1613 and 1618 Artemisia investigating the career of the miniatur- bore four children. Another scholar ist and calligrapher Giovanna Garzoni identified a fifth, tallying five pregnan- (c. 1600 – 1670). Women could join cies in as many years. By 1621 only one the Roman academy from 1607 on, but daughter survived. Others have tracked Garzoni is among the first to leave a Artemisia’s financial difficulties as she documentary trace. Once again, the established her business and consoli- archive provides a richer view of a dated her relationships with notable female artist as a professional who paid Florentines, including Galileo Galilei. her dues, received food when ill, gave One extraordinary discovery has been alms to others, and left the academy the correspondence between Artemisia income-producing properties. and her wealthy lover Francesco Maria In CASVA’s third research project, Maringhi, through which we learn of History of Early American Landscape her new literacy, her self-determination, Design (HEALD), Therese O’Malley and the complicity of her husband. is also documenting invisible figures. These documented experiences give The HEALD database contains hun- Artemisia greater agency, and make dreds of images and citations by and her success all the more remarkable. about women in the colonial and Orazio Gentileschi’s Lute Player early national period, including bota- (fig. 2) in the National Gallery of Art nists, horticulturalists, educators, and (once attributed to Caravaggio) presents businesswomen, in addition to diarists a young woman, life-sized in three-quarter whose observations have been critical view, seated before a table supporting to understanding the contributions a still life of musical instruments ready of women in early America. to be played. Her golden dress is vis- Vast bodies of data are accessible Fig. 3. Artemisia Gentileschi, Self-Portrait ibly mended and partially unlaced at in our digital age. Yet the archive as a Lute Player, c. 1615 – 1618, oil on the side for ease of movement as she has scarcely begun to yield its riches. canvas, Museum supports the lute she is tuning. The One danger of relying on the already of Art, Hartford, CT, Charles H. Schwartz woman’s absorption is intensified by her accessible is that neglected populations Endowment Fund, 2014.4.1. Allen Phillips / turning away from us; as she listens, remain so; a limited body of facts tends Wadsworth Atheneum we can almost hear the reverberation to perpetuate stereotypes. Evaluating of the strings. Whether or not it evokes and expanding the biographies of both Artemisia’s presence, Orazio’s scene famous and forgotten figures is part of conveys a domestic harmony that we a continuing conversation at CASVA. now know the Gentileschi family never • Elizabeth Cropper, Dean, Center for enjoyed. By contrast, Artemisia’s own Advanced Study in the Visual Arts