I had never heard of the artist Artemisia Gentileschi before this introductory Art course. Of all the paintings and sculptures found within the book, it was her work that stood out and spoke to me. "Judith and Maidservant with the head of Holofernes" is a particularly rich oil painting by the Italian Gentileschi, painted circa 1625 Europe. Her large canvas measures 72 and 1/2 inches by 55 and 3/4 inches and began as a biblical story telling inspiration come to life within the oil. Located at the Detroit Institute of Arts, the painting was a gift to the institute from Art collector Mr. Leslie H. Green in 1952. Artemisia was the daughter of a painter (and caravaggio influenced) Orazio Gentileschi, she was also the wife of little known artist Pierantonio Stiattesi. Artemisia had four sons and one daughter during her marriage. A student of the Chiaroscuro technique and during a time when women were not believed capable of painting competitively and intelligently as the men of the day. Artemisia proved them wrong with stunning work and artistry over her artistic career.
Artemisia Gentileschi was born July 8th 1593 in Rome Italy and quickly followed in her father's footsteps as an artist, and certainly under his tutelage. However Artemisia also had many problems as an painter of the day. First off, she was female and females (including their work) were not easily accepted during the time, though there were several before her, including renowned renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola. Understandably much of her work leaned toward the suffrage of women but showing them in a very powerful, protagonistic, untypical setting. Her teen years unfortunately help refine her as an artist of picturesque suffrage, as she herself was raped as a...
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...rious image styles and portraits of Mary Magdalen, Cleopatra and other religious and pertinent figures of the day. Her work reflects honesty, homage, technique and her storytelling ability. Her paintings also show she did her homework and researched her subjects. Historically, some of her early work has been debatable as to who the actual painter was for some pieces (her or her father), however Artemisia is certainly one of the most accomplished, accepted, and celebrated painters of her time.
Books
Sayre, Henry M. A World of Art. Seventh edition, N.J.: Person/Prentice Hall, 2013
Web sites
http://www.biography.com/people/artemisia-gentileschi-9308725
http://www.artemisia-gentileschi.com/index.shtml
http://books.google.com/books?id=Aw7-x7zfv-0C&pg=PA78#v=onepage&q&f=false
COCC on-line Library
BYRNE, LOUIS. Art Book. May2006, Vol. 13 Issue 2, p33-35. 3p. PDF
...as been viewed in the light of the knowledge of her personal history, as if the rape and trial were the defining events of her life story. Instead, she showed the fortitude to not only break past the restrictive bonds of what was acceptable “feminine” artwork, but to excel in producing paintings that were worthy of the masters, on the same playing field as any of male artist of her time. Artemisia Gentileschi was not an artist only intent on giving visual expression to her personal experiences and feelings, but a businesswoman trying to please her patrons and thus be successful in her field.
Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes epitomizes the style of artwork during the Italian Baroque era. By using a Catholic subject and key elements and techniques essential to baroque art such as chiaroscuro and foreshortening, she was able to create a piece that gushes drama and realism. Without the use of all of these elements the effect would be lost, but instead the piece is one that moves the viewer with its direct and gritty realism of the religious subject, evoking emotion in a way that leaves the viewer in awe.
Throughout Chapter 23, the two paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi drew my attentions the most. Both of these paints offer rare occurrences of a woman’s perspective in the 17th century art scene, which are unique and refreshing. In Susannah and the Elders, Gentileschi depicts a scene from a story in the book of Daniel, where the young Susannah is threatened by two elder men while bathing alone in her garden. The subject matter was popular among Roman catholic arts, perhaps because it offered a rare chance to display the female nude. Non-allegorical female nudes were highly stigmatized, subsequently paintings of female nudes were often cloaked in the framework of biblical/ mythological narratives. Following this tradition, female nude figures, including the depiction of Susannah, were often highly idealistic and unrelatable.
Jacopo del Sellaio’s Virgin, Child, and St. John is a characteristically iconographic tempera panel painting of Madonna, the Christ Child, and the infant St. John from the early renaissance, dating to the early 1480s. Sellaio was a Florentine painter under the apprenticeship of Sandro Botticelli, which reflects through his style and symbolism in the painting. In this work, he depicts a classically devotional scene filled with biblical symbolism. Sellaio’s Virgin, Child, and St. John expresses Mary’s loving role as Christ’s mother, the protective power and warmth of her maternal bond, and the significance of the birth of Christ.
By most accounts, the year 1500 was in the midst of the height of the Italian Renaissance. In that year, Flemmish artist Jean Hey, known as the “Master of Moulins,” painted “The Annunciation” to adorn a section of an alter piece for his royal French patrons. The painting tells the story of the angel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary to deliver the news that she will give birth to the son of God. As the story goes, Mary, an unwed woman, was initially terrified about the prospects of pregnancy, but eventually accepts her fate as God’s servant. “The Annunciation” is an oil painting on a modest canvas, three feet tall and half as wide. The setting of the painting is a study, Mary sitting at a desk in the bottom right hand corner reading, and the angel Gabriel behind her holding a golden scepter, perhaps floating and slightly off the canvas’s center to the left. Both figures are making distinct hand gestures, and a single white dove, in a glowing sphere of gold, floats directly above Mary’s head. The rest of the study is artistic but uncluttered: a tiled floor, a bed with red sheets, and Italian-style architecture. “The Annunciation” was painted at a momentous time, at what is now considered the end of the Early Renaissance (the majority of the 15th Century) and the beginning of the High Renaissance (roughly, 1495 – 1520). Because of its appropriate placement in the Renaissance’s timeline and its distinctly High Renaissance characteristics, Jean Hey’s “Annunciation” represents the culmination of the transition from the trial-and-error process of the Early Renaissance, to the technical perfection that embodied the High Renaissance. Specifically, “Annunciation” demonstrates technical advancements in the portrayal of the huma...
Here there could be no mistaking the predominance of personality—the unanimous "Oh!" of the spectators was a tribute, not to the brush-work of Reynolds 's "Mrs. Lloyd" but to the flesh and blood loveliness of Lily Bart. She had shown her artistic intelligence in selecting a type so like her own that she could embody the person represented without ceasing to be herself. It was as though she had stepped, not out of, but into, Reynolds 's canvas, banishing the phantom of his dead beauty by the beams of her living grace. The impulse to show herself in a splendid setting—she had thought for a moment of representing Tiepolo 's Cleopatra—had yielded to the truer instinct of trusting to her unassisted beauty, and she had purposely chosen a picture
Throughout the history of Ancient Greece thousands of great works of art were produced. Works were created in many different media, ranging from life-size statues to larger than life architectural structures. One type of art that can sometimes be overlooked, though, is pottery. There are many examples of great Greek pottery, but the two that will be used as a sample are Artemis Slaying Actaeon and Woman and Maid. By considering the backgrounds of these works, and comparing them directly we are able get a taste not only of the artistic styles of the time, but also a taste of ancient Greek culture.
Esther before Ahasuerus,1628-1630 is a painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, belonging to the period of the Italian Baroque. It is a large, two dimensional oil painting that displays a story of four figures. In a court, there is a man assumed to be Ahasuerus is rising out of his chair and appears to be stepping forward towards this woman, Esther, who appears to be fainting, and there are two women beside her who are holding her, preventing her from falling. Gentileschi uses a diagonal composition, space, light, texture, and color to depict a story of a man that is a part of a higher hierarchy who is confronting a woman that is in distress and creates a subject of agony.
The subject of Gentileschi's Judith and Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes uses tenebrism that makes use for the large areas of dark contrasting with the smaller bright areas of the painting. This painting is very dramatic considering multiple areas of darkness, such as the deep shadows. Judith could be holding out her hand to cover the light from her face to take a glimpse to see if anyone’s approaching them. She seems to be vigilant and she could also be stopping someone from
The piece Madonna with Saints and scenes of the life of christ ,a portable altarpiece and tryptic painting series by artist Maso Di Banco one of the most gifted pupil and associate of Giotto(The Brooklyn Museum,European art).Illustrates the life of christ from the birth of christ from right the birth of christ,center the annunciation of christ,left the crucifixion and top center the resurrection of christ.This piece shows just how much christianity was valued.This art form was so significant to this period they pass the practice down.Through books like ll Libro dell'Arte c.1370-1440 with step by step instructions on this technique cennino cennini on panel painting(cothren And stokstad 544).These artist created shrines to christ as seen in the piece by Maso Di Banco.The three dimensional portable gold altarpiece with decorative relief...
I think that Frida's life greatly influenced her paintings. Most of her paintings have some form of nature or wildlife featured in them. Not only did she display a theme of nature, she also liked to wear indian women clothing. Her style is realistic and lifelike. She has many paintings that fall into the categories of symbolism, surrealism, cubism, modern art, and magical realism. Not only that, a lot of her paintings have herself in them. The color use of Frida Kahlo is very lifelike, she uses natural colors; she doesn't use many bright colors. She uses many primary colors. I have also noticed that a few of her paintings exhibit monkeys. Her paintings remind me of the Mexican culture that I studied in my two year Spanish class. Artemisia’s paintings are very feministic. I believe that Artemisia put her life into her paintings as well. The paintings of Artemisia Gentileschi that I have seen all have women displayed in them; whether they are her, or other women. I would recognize her paintings because almost all of her artwork features a woman reaching out for something. Women in these paintings have a facial expression, that is the same in almost all of her works. Artemisia had very lifelike paintings, they were beautiful but also displayed a tense mood. Her paintings were very striking as were Fridas. Artemisia's paintings are historical and display a tone of hurt. In comparison, both Fridas and Artemisia’s paintings
Peter Paul Rubens’ masterpiece, Venus and Adonis, is not only a significant artwork of the baroque-period in Europe during the 17th century, but it also tells the mythological story that begins with love, and ends in tragedy. Displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this painting is admired for representing the unique baroque-style of this era, as well as Rubens’ particular use of the medium and how it reaches those who are viewing it. His attention to detail and crafty use of symbolism within the painting assist viewers in deciphering the story, along with the values of the time period in which Rubens was living. In studying the composition of the work and noting the historical context from which it came, one can ultimately understand Rubens’ point-of-view and thus, connect to the painting in a way he or she has never imagined.
.... Eiland. N.p.: Georgia Museum of Art, 2000. Print. This book helped me verify that Madonna and Child was painted by Duccio Di Buoninsegna and not by one of his pupils
Arnolfini Double Portrait was painted in 1434, by Jan van Eyck; who hard already gained attention and admiration through earlier works, such as the Ghent Altarpiece. The subject of Arnolfini Double Portrait, also known as The Arnolfini Portrait, is the italian merchant Giovanni Di Nicolao Arnolfini and his first wife inside of a room filled with objects teeming with symbolism. The depth is divided into a familiar three layers, a foreground, which is composed of a dog and a pair of sandals; a middle ground which features the two main subjects of the painting; and background, which contains the rest of the objects in the painting. The painting is symmetrical and the vanishing point is not far from the center of the painting along the horizontal. The paining is filled with symbolism and items meant to portray the subjects' distinguished lifestyle. Although, what some of the objects actually symbolize can be interpreted in slightly varying ways. To begin, many of the ob...
Rossetti shows us the woman being painted as many different things. Although she is just a painting, the woman symbolizes how the artist views women in real life: as objects. Irony is used when the woman is painted as “a queen”(5). She is put on a pedestal in a position of power, yet she is only described as being “in [an] opal or ruby dress”(5), cementing her role as an ornament. The ruby symbolizes passion and perhaps promiscuity. Opal is a white stone that reflects many colors. White symbolizes purity; while the different colors reflected symbolize how her meaning can change, and how the artist controls her identity and can make her fit any persona he desires. The woman is also depicted as a “nameless girl”(6), indicating her identity is not important to the artist. It also shows that he does not personally know the women he’s painting, but only their looks, affirming that he bases their value off of their appearances. Lastly, the artist portrays a woman as “a saint [and] an angel”(7) and compares her to the “moon”(11), an allusion to Artemis, the goddess of virginity. In this painting, she is established as a pure virgin, which was a requirement of the time period Rossetti lived in. However, because it is one of the fantasies the artist creates, and the poem antagonizes him, this line also expresses the idea that a woman’s purity should not define her. He makes the innocent virgin and the licentious queen the only ways women can be viewed. Yet, they are the same to him. Lacking depth, their physical description is the only thing giving them any meaning. Rossetti describing the portraits conveys the idea that no matter the position in society; or what their actual personalities are like, women are just blank canvases for men to project their fantasies onto. Uninterested in a real person, the artist worships the idea of a