Artemisia Gentileschi. The one who cut | Being Women ep.2

In today's episode we are talking about Artemisia Gentileschi - a woman who turned a brush into a weapon. 

This is the second episode in my series called 'Being Women' where I tell you about legendary women in history of arts and more! Welcome to the podcast and let me know if you like this format in the comments :)

Transcript

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1612 Rome Palace Silence A papal judge is staring at a 19 year old girl who has just endured a rope torture. Her shoulders were being dislocated to force her to lie. And do you know what she said? It's true, it's true. Her name is Artemisia Gentileschi. And four centuries later this girl with torn ligaments will make museums fight for her artworks. Because Artemisia isn't just the first woman to be admitted to the Florence Academy of Fine Art. She is someone who turned a brush into a weapon. Welcome to the podcast. No boring dates today. Just blood, rage, and genius. Her father, Arazio Gentileski, is a caravagist, connoisseur of shadow and bottle. He noticed his daughter's talent late. At 12, Artemisia already mixes oak with vermilion, so skillful that the venerable man frees in admiration.

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But in the 17th century, a woman cannot study anatomy. It's indecent to look at naked men, and without that, well, what battles, what heroes. Her father hires a tutor, Augustina Tassi. Tassi is a family friend and a fashionable painter. He will rape Artemisia more than just once, and then he promised to marry her, but doesn't. Do you know how the trial ended? Tassi served few months. Artemisia not just won a good reputation, she won something else, a right to paint. She left the courtroom with her first uh clearance. The first major painting Judas behind the Lafernus. Don't confuse it with Caravaggio's gentle Judas. Caravaggio's Judas is a young woman hesitating. Artemisius Judas is a woman with sweat-soaked skirts, gripping the Assyrian general's hair as she's holding the watermelon. Halafernus is Tassi, and Judas is Artemisia herself. Look at her maidservant Abra, is pressing her knee on Halafherna's chest. This isn't just a biblical scene, it is a domestic murder of a man who came at you at night. Blood on sheets. And the most terrifying thing, her eyes. Judas has no pity. This painting is the first feminist manifesto on all. Art historians say 47 version. She insisted on every drop of blood. Then more. Ante Vemizia leaves for Florence, a cosmopolitan city ruled by Medici. What does a woman whom no one takes seriously do? She paints self-portraits, the allegory of painting. Her hand with blush is dirty, her face is sweaty. A woman who works. And she earns. More than her father. She has commissions from bankers, dukes, the grand duke herself, at 23, Academia of Fine Art. Unbelievable. At this time, a woman who could be a model, nun, or a courtesan, and Artemisia becomes a rival. She paints Judas with the head of Alaferness a second, uh third, fourth time. They say collector's whispers, this woman is obsessed, and she just decided long ago. If I can't force the violence, I will make all of Rome look at it. Then came London, an invitation from King Charles I. Artemisia paints mythological scenes where women always win. Cleopatra calmly takes the poison. Esther goes to the king not to ask but to demand. She is aging, but her hand doesn't tremble. And Artemisia's main secret is not subject. It's light she stole from Caravaggio and remains in her own way, more shadow than light. But every way fell on a woman's face as if on a pedestal. She died in Naples in 1656 of the plague. No one came to her funeral. Her paintings lay for centuries in storerooms under other people's names. A painting by a known artist stylistically resembles a follower of Caravaccio. Male art historians just couldn't believe only a woman who had been on the other side of this ward could paint like this. Today Artemisia's Judith hangs in Uffizi next to Betticelli and Da Vinci. And there is uh one detail you won't notice in the reproduction. On Judith's sleeves, a tiny stain, red, not washed out. Artemisia dipped her finger in paint and left her fingerprint. As it's to say, I did this with my own hands. Don't be afraid. She is the brightest woman in the history of art between Cleopatra and Frida Kahlo. Because Cleopatra died from snake, and Artemisia taught the snake to fly. Thank you for listening, and in the next episode, we'll talk down a second painting, and you will see how the blood becomes beautiful.