Product Description

Artemisia Gentileschi is one of the most fascinating artists in history. Apprenticed at an early age to her father, the 17th century painter Orazio Gentileschi, she rapidly becomes more famous than he was, for her rich, dramatic canvases. But her fame was tarnished by scandal. At the age of seventeen, she was violently raped by Agostino Tassi, an artist friend of her father. On discovering his betrayal, Orazio took the case to court and there followed, in 1612, eight months of humiliation for Artemisia as the trial continued. It is the first rape trial ever to be fully documented.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #330821 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-05
• Original language: French
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Artemisia Gentileschi stands as one of the greatest painters of the 17th century. Yet for centuries Artemisia's notoriety was based on her gender and violent private life, as Alexandra Lapierre points out in her marvellous biography Artemisia: The Story of a Battle for Greatness. By 1640 she had painted "for Philip IV of Spain and all the crowned heads of Europe. She was famous, beautiful and scandalous. It was well known that, at the age of seventeen, she had been raped by her father's closest collaborator and had had the audacity to take the matter to law". She survived to "feature on the list of the world's wonders, and the virtuosity of her skills was celebrated by poets. In the eyes of her contemporaries she stood as one of the greatest female history painters, perhaps the most brilliant of all", with her violent, erotic studies of Judith Slaying Holfernes and Self Portrait as the Allegory of Painting. The first half of Lapierre's book explores the twisted erotic and artistic triangle established between the young artistic prodigy Artemisia, her successful father the painter Orazio Gentileschi, and his fellow artist and Artemisia's subsequent sexual tormentor, Agostino Tassi. Their intense relationship is brilliantly sketched out against the decadent, corrupt and lawless backdrop of early 17th-century Rome, where "art had become the cornerstone of power--and the artist its instrument". Lapierre wonderfully evokes this world of art and realpolitik, with lush, detailed accounts of everything from court depositions to the grinding of pigment. Her exhaustive research is impressive (there are over a hundred pages of notes and bibliography), but Artemisia is by no means a dry biographical study. Interestingly comparable to Peter Robb's controversial biography of Caravaggio, M, Lapierre's book takes huge liberties with Artemisia's artistic and private life, as she moves between Rome, Florence, Naples, Venice and London, sparring with her emotionally crippled father. However, the result is a rich and satisfying study of a charismatic but ultimately deeply enigmatic artist. --Jerry Brotton

Customer Reviews

A Truly Excellent Account of a Great Artist
This book by Alexandra Lapierre on the life of the female artist, Artemisia Gentileschi, is a fascinating study of the world of art and Europe during the seventeenth Century. Having read a few books on Caravaggio I had come across the name of Artemisia but knew very little of her other than that she had been raped by another artist and later went on to become quite famous herself. This book told the story of not only Artemisia and her art but also her father, Orazio Gentileschi, and showed how artistic rivalry, love, family, honour and a passion for art interlocked their lives and careers.

The book is not a novel as the title suggests but is indeed a historical biography of Artemisia Gentileschi and her times. The author has used her skills as a novelist to fill gaps in the story of Artemisia but only with the greatest sense of historical correctness. The author has carried out extensive research on her subject and has used the results of this research to help fill the gaps in the story of this famous artist. She lets the reader know that at times she has fictionalised some of the narrative but never the facts.

Alexandra Lapierre provides the reader with comprehensive notes and references to show the reader why she has decided to use certain narrative or placed a particular slant on her perspective of some events. I found that this manner of story telling in this particular account did not detract from the book in any fashion. It may not please those historians or experts in the field of art but to me, a novice, I found it a great approach to help the reader understand this great artist and the times she lived in.

A number of colour plates are provided of not only Artemisia's paintings but also her fathers and other artists involved in her story. A number of maps have also been placed in the book to assist the reader with following the story, events and travels of Artemisia.

The story itself was well told and in particular I found the account of the rape case very interesting. This is an intriguing and very enjoyable book and I hope that the idea of some of the narrative being fiction will not put other readers off. In fact the 80 pages of notes used by the author to support her account makes fascinating reading in themselves. The book is over 500 pages and I found it a very easy to read account and it has provoked in me a desire to learn more about this great female artist. This book is well worth the effort to sit down and read and I hope that many other readers out there enjoy this book as much as I did...

Artemisia Gentileschi, the first major female artist?
A fascinating and unusual book, it paints a backgound of how life was in early 17th century Rome for the artists of the day.

Artemisia Gentileschi's mother died in childbirth and her father Orazio raised their remaining children alone. Artemisia lived as a virtual prisoner in her father's house rarely going out or meeting others. From an early age she was adept at preparing her father's paint, varnishes and glaze, and showed early promise as an artist.
At 17 years of age she was raped by Agostino Tassi, an artist who collaborated on works with her father. The trial of Tassi forms the basis of the early part of this book since it affected Artemisia's eventual marriage and the whole course of her life. The trial itself is of interest, for at that time in Rome the accused, accuser and witnesses could be subjected to torture. The belief was that testimony was true if it was repeated under torture, the judges did not decide, their task was to obtain a confession. Prison was where the accused would be held whilst enquiries were made, but imprisonment would not be the penalty for the guilty. Punishment would be in the form of execution, a period in the galleys or perhaps exile depending of course on the seriousness of the crime.

I do have one comment about this book, the author re-enacts scenes, putting words into the participants mouthes. Obviously 400 years after the events described in the book happened it cannot always be known exactly what was said. It is important therefore when reading the book to realise what is fact and what is reconstruction. However in this case it is easy to tell the two apart and this style does not detract from the value of the book as a biography and in fact helps to bring it to life.

A book I recommend, there are some excellent colour plates at the end of the hardback edition, showing some of the works of Artemisia and Orazio and others. They show the skill, artistry and draughtsmanship of the artists in their composition, use of colour and rendering of light.

Review
This script introduced some interesting new ideas to what we know about Artemisia, for example her travels to Venice and her studio in Naples. I cetainly liked the way the author introduced the surrounding world in which the artist lived initially in Rome, and how it gives the reader an understanding of some of the roles other figures in the early 17th century played in her carear.

My only gripe is that Artemisia is portrayed as a superior artist to her father and that she some how excells him - she manifestly is not. Her fame is far more a consequence of her father, her gender and her infamous rape trail, than as her ability as a painter.

But that is beside the point - it is a very enjoyable read.