The Artistic Self-Image of Artemisia Gentileschi by Kevin Rojas
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The Artistic Self-Image of Artemisia Gentileschi by Kevin Rojas Spring 2020 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a baccalaureate degree in Visual Arts in cursu honorum Reviewed and approved by: ________________________________________ Dr. Boshart, Ph.D, Department of Fine Arts Thesis Supervisor Submitted to the Honors Program, Saint Peter’s University March 27th, 2020 Rojas 1 Abstract The connection between art and gender has become much more pronounced in recent years with the rise of feminism, and as a result, there has been much interest in tracing back the origins of this connection, as well as the origins of art which empowers women. Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi has been an especially important person of interest in this field; she challenged the limits imposed on women artists of her time, though not without hardship. Several of her artworks remain famous to this day—they are arguably even more famous today than ever before—yet many people do not focus as much on her self-portraits as they do on her history paintings. This thesis is meant to provide some deeper analysis of her self-portraits, as well as some of her other paintings which have been popularly interpreted as containing instances of self-insertion. Artemisia’s self-portraits can be seen as protofeminist works, given the grand and bold manner in which she would image herself. Through her self-portraits and artistic self-insertions, one can come to learn more about Artemisia Gentileschi’s own identity, as well as how she viewed women, and how she viewed the overall society in which she lived. By depicting herself in more creative and allegorical forms, Artemisia was able to take control of her own image and present herself to the world as she viewed herself. Rojas 2 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Chapter One 7 Chapter Two 12 Chapter Three 25 Conclusion 32 Illustrations 34 Bibliography 54 Rojas 3 Introduction Throughout the long history of Western art, women artists have struggled to hold a prominent place and have almost always been overshadowed by their male contemporaries—that is, until the last century. With the advent of the modern period starting from the sixteenth century and moving forward, the barriers placed upon women have slowly been broken down, and female artists have begun to gain much more fame and glory. One woman artist who managed to overcome many of the social hurdles placed upon her was Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–c. 1654). A renowned Italian Baroque painter and the only female Caravaggista ever known, Artemisia was famous for painting strong women in positions of authority or women taking active roles in shaping their destinies; many of these women she portrayed were either heroines from the Bible, such as Judith, or classical historical figures, such as Cleopatra. Many of her artworks—including even those that were not explicitly portraits of herself—have been seen as being partly autobiographical by modern art historians, and for this reason, it could be argued that a good number of Artemisia’s artworks are self-portraits. The fact remains, however, that while many of her paintings depicting Biblical heroines or female historical figures remain well-known to this day, some of her self-portraits are largely overlooked, except perhaps her Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting. However, it must be said that Artemisia’s self-portraits are important because they illustrate the way she wanted to be seen in a society in which she held a lesser place due to her gender; in her self-portraits, she imagines herself as highly-esteemed historical figures, or even as allegorical figures from classical literature, to emphasize her masterful ability and grand self-perception—something which was rather bold and innovative for a woman artist of her day. Rojas 4 Artemisia Gentileschi was born in Rome, Italy, in July of the year 1593. Her father, Orazio Gentileschi, was a famous Baroque painter in his day; his art style largely resembles Caravaggio’s intensely dramatic style. Orazio, seeing that his young daughter was also gifted in the art of painting, decided to instruct her in painting on his own; as a result, Artemisia’s style resembles that of her father—though her style is much closer to that of Caravaggio in that she usually heightens the drama and increases the use of chiaroscuro in her art, even more so than her own father. Her style is also a little less idealistic than that of Orazio. However, things took a turn for the worse once Orazio invited one of his artist friends, Agostino Tassi, to further mentor the then-seventeen year-old Artemisia. In May of 1611, when Tassi and Artemisia were alone together in her art studio, he took advantage of her and ended up raping her—and he did not stop there. Tassi continued to rape Artemisia over the span of several months, but always managed to silence her by promising to take responsibility for his actions by marrying her—though he never did live up to his promise.1 Artemisia has been documented to have said herself in the rape trial of 1612, “[W]hat I was doing with him, I did only so that, as he had dishonored me, he would marry me.”2 Once Artemisia’s father realized what was happening and concluded that Tassi would not take responsibility, Orazio reported him to the Roman authorities in March of the year 1612, which caused an entire chain of events to ensue in which Tassi and Artemisia were both taken to court, and Artemisia was asked to testify against Tassi. The rape trial was highly publicized and caused a huge scandal that year. The authorities did everything they could to assure themselves of the fact that Artemisia was telling the truth, and 1 Elizabeth S. Cohen, “The Trials of Artemisia Gentileschi: A Rape as History,” The Sixteenth Century Journal 31, no. 1 (2000): 49, doi:10.2307/2671289. 2 Mary D. Garrard, Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991), 22. Rojas 5 went so far as to examine her genitals to prove that she was not lying about the sexual assault.3,4 This one event in particular proved to be the most traumatic for the young painter, but even after all the difficulties she faced, she never wavered and stood firm in her testimony. Eventually, it was proven that Artemisia was telling the truth and that Tassi did in fact rape her, and so he was sentenced to prison and exile. However, he was ultimately released from prison after about eight months, and the case was dismissed soon after.5 Many male artists of her time, as well as from before and after her time, would depict themselves or other men in aggrandizing forms. They would paint themselves or other men assuming a pose which denoted confidence or refinement, and they would be wearing luxurious, finely-crafted clothing, situated in sophisticated-looking settings such as vast personal libraries or spacious studies; sometimes the artist would generously improve certain features to make the subject look more conventionally attractive. Artemisia challenged this common theme by also aggrandizing herself in some of her self-portraits, albeit in more creative ways. Sometimes she would carefully insert her own image in her paintings depicting famous scenes and figures from the Bible, thus asserting herself the way a male artist of her time normally would but perhaps with different motives. Whether it be merely a metaphorical self-insertion or an explicit self-insertion, Artemisia’s mirror image is ubiquitous throughout her body of work; her life events, her body, her desires, and even her face can be seen reflected in a number of her works. Artemisia knew herself and her life better than anyone else, and while much of her life may be shrouded in mystery and ambiguity, sadly lost in the extensive scope of time, much of her life events and her inner self have been laid forth in her extensive oeuvre. Her paintings—especially 3 Elizabeth S. Cohen, “The Trials of Artemisia Gentileschi: A Rape as History”: 59-60. 4 Mary D. Garrard, Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art, 21. 5 Ibid, 22. Rojas 6 her self-portraits—all speak for themselves; Artemisia was not afraid to paint women as they are, nor was she afraid to paint women overcoming adversity and oppression. With the artworks and the documents that have been left behind by her and her contemporaries, we can try to figure out who Artemisia Gentileschi really was, and how she viewed herself—both as a woman and as an artist. Rojas 7 Chapter One Women during the Renaissance period of Western Europe were beginning to question the oppressive binds placed upon them by society, by state law, and by the Catholic Church, but this centuries-long battle began quietly and slowly. A considerable number of women were beginning to go against all odds to make names for themselves, some of these women being influential writers such as Aphra Behn and Mary Astell, and others being influential artists, such as Lavinia Fontana, the Anguissola sisters, and of course, Artemisia Gentileschi. Artemisia was trained by her own father, Orazio; he, too, was a famous Baroque painter. The artistic training she received was presumably much more complete than that of other female artists born in the sixteenth century, as Artemisia demonstrated a great knowledge of the human body in her art even at a young age; she was able to paint nude men and women with great accuracy, and knew how to make their movements look very natural and real.