Artemisia Gentileschi Biography

Artemisia Gentileschi was an Italian Baroque painter who rose to prominence in the 17th century and despite the hostility towards female artists at the time; she managed to carve a niche for herself in the world of painting. Artemisia Gentileschi’s father was a professional painter named Orazio Gentileschi and it was under his tutelage that she learnt to paint. Her painting was so similar to her father that art critics have stated that it often became difficult to distinguish between the work of the two and both had a style that was distinctly inspired from the works of the painter Caravaggio. Artemisia Gentileschi suffered at the hands of one of her father’s friends when she was a teenager and that experience had a profound effect on her as a painter as most of her paintings displayed strong female characters. She worked in Rome, Florence, Naples and finally in London, England for King Charles I and carved a name for herself as one of the leading painters. Artemisia Gentileschi is regarded as one of the most influential artists of the era in which she lived and her painting ‘Judith Slaying Holofernes’ is one of her most famous works that is still studied by students of painting.