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judith slaying holofernes is a painting by the italian early baroque artist artemisia gentileschi, completed between 1614–20. the work shows the scene of judith beheading holofernes, which had been common in art since the renaissance, as part of the group of subjects called 'the power of women', which show women triumphing over powerful men. the subject takes an episode from the apocryphal book of judith in the old testament, which recounts the assassination of the assyrian general holofernes by the israelite heroine, judith. the painting shows the moment when judith, helped by her maidservant, beheads the general after he has fallen asleep drunk.
i recently read a novel set in the art world (the reason why i even bought the book). i realized that when i read a book i subconsciously try to decide to myself what its aim is/was; does the author want to share something, make money, experience joy in the writing of it, what? because i could not feel the 'reason' of this one. but what it did, was introduce me to artemisia gentileschi. i was intrigued immediately and went to wiki. now i share some of it here, mostly copied and pasted.
artemisia gentileschi was born in rome on 8 july 1593, the eldest child of the tuscan painter orazio gentileschi, and prudentia montone.
artemisia was introduced to painting in her father's workshop, showing much more talent than her brothers, who worked alongside her. since her father's style took inspiration from caravaggio during that period, her style was just as heavily influenced in turn. her approach to subject matter was different from her father's, however, as her paintings are highly naturalistic. at the same time, artemisia had to resist the 'traditional attitude and psychological submission to this brainwashing and jealousy of her obvious talent'. by doing so, she gained great respect and recognition for her work. in 1611, her father was working with agostino tassi to decorate the vaults of casino della rose inside the pallavicini rospigliosi palace in rome, so orazio hired the painter to tutor his daughter privately. during this tutelage, tassi raped artemisia. another man, cosimo quorlis, was also involved. after the initial rape, artemisia continued to have sexual relations with tassi, with the expectation that they were going to be married and with the hope to restore her dignity and her future (i don't know what to think of this). tassi reneged on his promise to marry artemisia. nine months after the rape, when he learnt that artemisia and tassi were not going to be married, orazio pressed charges against tassi (i have a mouthful to say about this). orazio also claimed that tassi stole a painting of judith from the gentileschi household. the major issue of this trial was the fact that tassi had taken artemisia's virginity. if artemisia had not been a virgin before tassi raped her, the gentileschis would not have been able to press charges(what?!). during the ensuing seven-month trial, it was discovered that tassi had planned to murder his wife, had engaged in adultery with his sister-in-law, and planned to steal some of orazio's paintings. during the trial, artemisia was subjected to a gynecological examination and torture using thumbscrews to verify her testimony. at the end of the trial tassi was sentenced to imprisonment for one year, although he never served the time. the trial influenced the feminist view of artemisia gentileschi during the late twentieth century.
