The life and inspiring works of the artist who gives your room her name: 8. Artemisia Gentileschi ***

Artemisia Gentileschi. Self-portrait as a Female Martyr. 1615. Private collection. The Athenaeum: Home-info-pic. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1653) has become a feminist icon, celebrated for her struggles in the male-dominated world of 17^th Century art.

A teenage victim of rape, and the subject of continuing prurient curiosity and innuendo, she nonetheless succeeded in making a career as a painter. She had numerous private commissions, was a Court Painter with Charles I in England, and the first woman member of Florence’s prestigious Accademia di Arte del Designo.

Powerful stories told through paint and emotion

Artemesia worked at first in the style of Caravaggio but later developed a simple naturalness for her female figures, and she found fresh ways of using colour to express emotion. Her paintings often reflected her own turbulent life, featuring strong women versus male tyrants.

A popular subject was the Jewish widow Judith seducing, then killing, the Assyrian general Holofernes, whose army was laying siege to her city. This is the version in the Detroit Institute of Arts…

Artemisia Gentileschi. Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes (c. 1625). Detroit Institute of Arts. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

… while this is the one in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence…

Artemisia Gentileschi. Judith Slaying Holofernes (1614–1620). Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Among the Gentileschi’s other favourite subjects was the Old Testament story of Susanna and the Elders, in which a woman is falsely accused of adultery by two men who try to blackmail her into having sex. Susanna, justice and women triumph in the end.

Artemisia Gentileschi. Susanna and the Elders (c.1638-40). Royal Collection, Windsor Castle. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

New discoveries and historic connections

Incidentally, the picture was at first attributed to Caravaggio, but recent research by curators at the Royal Collection Trust shows it is definitely by Gentileschi, and can be traced back to Henrietta Maria of France, wife of Charles I. It is believed to have once hung over the Queen’s private fireplace. We wonder why the Queen was attracted by the subject of male sexual perfidy.

*** Who wants a number on the bedroom door when they could be staying in Botticelli, Bronzino or Brunelleschi? Or Gentileschi, Ghirlandaio or Ghiberti? Or one of another half-dozen famous Italian artists, from Alberti to Vasari?

Some years ago, we decided to switch from numbers to names in each of our rooms. They celebrate famous Italian artists, mainly from the Renaissance and mainly men, because (a) the early Renaissance is our favourite artistic period and (b) because few women were painting professionally in those days, and even fewer have become famous.

At Lois’ insistence we included Artemesia Gentileschi on our list a few years ago, and in 2026 we have introduced Sofonisba Anguissola, despite her tongue-twisting name.