Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian painter, July 8, 1593 – c 1656

Gentileschi was born in Rome and trained in the workshop of her father, Orazio Gentileschi, a painter associated with the Caravaggesque style. Her early formation was shaped by Roman Baroque painting, especially the dramatic lighting and forceful realism associated with Caravaggio and his followers.

She worked first in Rome, then in Florence, where she became the first woman admitted to the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno. She later worked in Rome again, Venice, Naples, and London, where she joined her father at the court of Charles I.

Her work is best known for large-scale biblical, mythological, and historical subjects, often centered on women from scripture or classical history, including Susanna, Judith, Esther, Cleopatra, and Bathsheba. She also painted portraits and self-portraits, including self-representations as allegorical or musical figures.

Her patrons included members of the Medici court in Florence, Cassiano dal Pozzo in Rome, Neapolitan collectors, and the English royal court. No major formal school of pupils is securely associated with her, though she worked with assistants and family members, including her daughter Prudenzia Palmira.

Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1638 – 1639
Oil on canvas, 38.8 x 29.6 in
Royal Collection, UK

Self-Portrait as a Lute Player, 1615 – 1618
Oil on canvas, 30.5 x 28.2 in
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford

Susanna and the Elders, c 1610
Oil on canvas, 66.9 x 46.8 in
Schloss Weißenstein, Pommersfelden, Germany

Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist, 1610 – 1615
Oil on canvas, 33 x 36.2 in
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1614 – 1620
Oil on canvas, 78.3 x 63.9 in
Museo di Capodimonte, Naples

Judith and Her Maidservant, 1618 – 1619
Oil on canvas, 44.8 x 36.8 in
Palazzo Pitti, Florence

Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes, c 1623 – 1625
Oil on canvas, 73.7 x 55.9 in
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit

Venus and Cupid, 1625 – 1630
Oil on canvas, 38 x 56.6 in
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond

Esther before Ahasuerus, 1628 – 1635
Oil on canvas, 82 x 107.7 in
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Cleopatra, 1633 – 1635
Oil on canvas, 46 x 69 in
Private Collection, Rome

Lot and His Daughters, c 1636 – 1638
Oil on canvas, 90.7 x 72 in
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo

Bathsheba, c 1636 – 1637
Oil on canvas, 104.5 x 82.5 in
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus