Product Description

From extraordinary highs - patronage by the Medicis, friendship with Galileo and, most importantly of all, beautiful and outstandingly original paintings - to rape by her father's colleague, torture by the Inquisition, life-long struggles for acceptance by the artistic Establishment, and betrayal by the men she loved, Artemisia was a bold and brilliant woman who lived as she wanted, and paid a high price. Now Susan Vreeland, author of the acclaimed GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE, brings her story to passionate and vivid life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50259 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
What do Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi and 20th century novelist and philosopher Iris Murdoch have in common? In addition to the obvious--that they're both women--their life stories have eclipsed their art; sadly, because their work is of real significance and interest. Gentileschi has been the subject of an earlier novel by Anna Banti and a 1998 film. In actuality, she was raped at 19 by one of her father's fellow painters, Agostino Tassi, and the documentation of the seven-month trial has survived, to be given very different interpretations in all these accounts. Susan Vreeland's Artemisia is a feisty feminist, brimful with brio and passionate about her painting, who offers her narrative in the intimacy of the first person. After Tassi's trial, Artemisia's father arranges her marriage to Pietro Stiattesi, a Florentine painter--and dedicated philanderer. Artemisia, so she hopes, is to begin life anew in Florence. Indeed, she gives birth to a beloved daughter, Palmira, and distinguished painting commissions come to her. She is accepted as the first woman into the Academy of Art and Design, is envied for of Cosimo de' Medici's patronage, befriends Galileo, and soon outstrips her husband's reputation.

Her marriage asunder, she begins her peripatetic travels to Genoa, Venice, Florence and eventually to London, always in search of work, and always fleeing the taint of her rape. Vreeland paints her character and the different worlds she inhabits with loving and compelling detail--the sights and sounds of Florence, the snooty male hegemony of the Academy, the Medici feuds and intrigues. But the writing, particularly in Artemisia's own reflections and dialogue, is often jarringly clunky: "I really was living the life of an artist in the greatest art city in the world"; "I wanted to hug them all"--and this does detract from the novel's tone and persuasivenss. The book's cover is a travesty: a portrait of St Cecilia--the model is thought to be Artemisia and the painting is by her father. But why not one of Artemisia's own extraordinary paintings: indeed, her absorbed, intense self-portrait speaks volumes? What a sad irony that its very boldness has been sacrificed to the more saccharine beauty of her father's work. --Ruth Petrie

Review
Praise for GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE: ‘Not just another book with a Vermeer on the dust jacket....This beautifully imagined and written book...is a work of art itself'

'Wonderful...extraordinarily skilled...deft, perceptive...deeply moving'

'A work of art'

About the Author
Susan Vreeland 's bestselling collection of linked stories, GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE, was sold in thirteen countries and shortlisted for a number of major prizes. THE PASSION OF ARTEMISIA is her first novel.

Customer Reviews

One of my favourite books of the year
I had never heard of Artemisia Gentileschi before I picked up this book, I bought it because I liked Vreeland's writing in Girl in Hyacinth Blue. In The Passion of Artemisia Vreeland steps up a gear and delivers a tale which contains some of the most wonderful descriptive passages I've ever read. Having finished the book I went and checked out some books with photos of Artemisia's paintings and Judith, Cleopatra and Lucrezia were just as I'd imagined them in the book.

Having been a stranger to Artemisia Gentileschi I cannot vouch for how one of her fans will react to this piece of fiction, but I think that anyone who's willing to accept this book as such will fully enjoy it as I have. We suffer with Artemisia through the early part of the tale when she has to testify at the trial against the man who raped her, her father's subsequent betrayal and her rushed marriage with Pierantonio Stiattesi. We get to see Florence through the eyes of a newcomer, the eyes of someone for whom Florence is not just a beautiful city, but the place where dreams come true and her remarkable friendship with Galileo Galilei. We finally get to follow Artemisia's and Palmira's nomadic life, travelling from one city to another in search of a patron, the excitement of their new life in Genoa, the bittersweet return to Rome and then her final confrontation with her father.

This is one of my favourite books of this year and I'm looking forward to reading many more books by Susan Vreeland.

Pretty good if not totally convincing
This is an interesting story with an interesting setting. It's main flaw is in it evocation of historical speech and behaviour. Like so many books of its kind (Tracy Chevalier is a much more serious offender) the characters do not sound like people from a different age, and this saps their sense of being real. This carp aside it is enjoyable.

A Beautiful Story
When I picked up this book, I knew nothing of Artemesia Gentileschi, her father Orazio, or early Italian art in the Post-renaissance period. By the time I put it down, I had fallen in love with this relatively unknown female painter and her entire life story. This book richly displayed the life of Artemesia, one of the first female artists of her time period, as well as life and principles in Italy in the early 1600's. It contains many historical facts and references including the actual instance when Artemsia was seduced by her father's business partner and her tutor. He is, at the time, nearly twice her age. Susan Vreeland uses what information is available about Artemesia and fills it in completely using her own imagination. It is the tragic yet glorious story of Artemesia's relationship with her distant father as well as her struggle to become an independent woman artist in a male dominated society. It is filled with beautiful description, intriguing story telling and realistic characters. It would definitely be enjoyed by those who admire the work of Tracy Chevalier, as it gives life to paintings done by Artemesia Gentileschi. It is also a novel for fans of historical fiction and those who are interested in post-Renaissance art. After reading this novel, I was so intrigued by Artemesia's story, that I went to the bookstore and bought another book about her. Artemesia has an amazing story, and Susan Vreeland has told it masterfully.