Last Updated on July 8, 2024 by Kittredge Cherry
Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi inspires many with her paintings of strong Biblical women — created despite the discrimination and sexual violence that she faced as a woman in 17th-century Italy. She was born on July 8, 1593.
Although Gentileschi was apparently heterosexual, lesbians have drawn energy from her life and art. Many LGBTQ people can relate to her battles against prejudice and sexual violence, documented in her rape trial in 1612. She can be considered the patron saint of lesbian artists, women artists, and everyone who breaks gender rules.
Gentileschi (1593–1652) was successful in her own day, but was mostly written out of art history until the 1970s, when feminist scholars rediscovered her work. Now she is celebrated in many books, films and plays, and her work is widely reproduced. Her greatest paintings include “Judith Beheading Holofernes” and “Susanna and the Elders.”
Lesbians who have created tributes to Gentileschi include painter Becki Jayne Harrelson and playwright Carolyn Gage. In the play “Artemisia and Hildegard,” Gage has two of history’s great women artists debate their contrasting survival strategies: Gentileschi battled to achieve in the male-dominated art world while Hildegard of Bingen found support for her art in the women-only community of a medieval German nunnery.
Artemisia Gentileschi used art to express her outrage
The daughter of a painter, Gentileschi was born in Rome and trained as a painter in her father’s workshop there. She was refused admission to the art academy because she was a woman, so her father arranged for her to have a private painting teacher — who raped her when she was about 19. Gentileschi herself was tortured by thumbscrews during the seven-month rape trial, but she stuck to her testimony. The teacher was convicted, but received a suspended sentence.
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| “Judith Beheading Holofernes” by Artemisia Gentileschi |
Gentileschi used art to express her outrage. During the trial Artemisia began painting the Biblical scene of “Judith Beheading Holofernes” (left). Judith, a daring and beautiful Hebrew widow, saves Israel by cutting off the head of the invading general Holofernes. Judith and Holofernes became one of Gentileschi’s favorite subjects, and she painted several variations during her lifetime.
Her realistic style, influenced by the artist Caravaggio, shows dramatic contrasts between light and dark. But Gentileschi usually created her own unique interpretation expressing a strong female viewpoint. The violence of Judith beheading the male general Holofernes speaks for itself. Another example is her painting (below left) of the Biblical story of the Hebrew wife Susanna and the lustful elders who spied on her while she was bathing. Although her male contemporaries painted the scene as a voyeuristic fantasy, Gentileschi presents it as a violation of the vulnerable Susanna by the predatory elders.
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| “Susanna and the Elders” by Artemisia Gentileschi |
Soon after the rape trial Gentileschi married and moved to Florence, where she became the first woman accepted into the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno (Academy of the Arts of Drawing). She had a full career, producing many paintings of powerful women from Christianity, history and mythology. She worked in various Italian cities and even spent a few years painting in London, England. It is believed that she died when she was about 60 years old in a plague that swept Naples in 1656.
Today Gentileschi’s life and work are admired by many, including artist Becki Jayne Harrelson. She is best known for her LGBT-affirming version of “The Crucifixion of the Christ” with the word “faggot” above Jesus on the cross, but Harrelson has also honored Gentileschi in her art and blog.
Harrelson offers this tribute in celebration of Gentileschi’s birthday: “Artemisia Gentileschi’s talent and mastery was equal to her male counterparts, yet because of sexism and misogyny, she was denied the recognition she deserved as a master painter until many centuries later. She also suffered sexual violence and was treated unjustly for standing up against it. Her art and life inspires me to persevere despite adversity and prejudice.”
Gentilieschi is one of 39 historical and mythological women featured in “The Dinner Party,” an installation artwork by feminist artist Judy Chicago. Considered a milestone in 20th-century art, it consists of a triangular table with elaborate place settings for each woman. The place settings include embroidered runners, gold chalices and utensils, and hand-painted china plates with a raised vulva or butterfly form. Every item is crafted in a unique style that reflects the woman being honored. In the place setting for Gentileschi at “The Dinner Party,” Baroque motifs and colors are combined with subtle symbols of her favorite subject, Judith.
Gentileschi’s story is told in a variety of movies and novels, including “The Passion of Artemisia” by Susan Vreeland.
Theologian Susan Thistlethwaite writes about Gentileschi in her 2015 book “A Theology of Women’s Bodies as Battlefield: Just War, Just Peace, and the Global War on Women” (publication date: July 15, 2015). Gentileschi concludes the section on Renaissance painting and establishing the visiblity/invisiblity of rape culture.
Artemisia Gentileschi is included in the LGBTQ saints series at the Jesus in Love Blog because she has inspired so many lesbians with her paintings of women and her success despite gender barriers and sexual violence.
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Top image credit:
“Judith and Her Maidservant” by Artemisia Gentileschi
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This post is part of the LGBTQ Saints series by Kittredge Cherry. Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBTQ martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and our allies are covered.
This article was originally published on Q Spirit in July 2017 and was most recently updated on July 8, 2024.
Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.
Kinda distasteful depicting Judith servant as a black women, is it not? Gay people get away with anything – absolutely disgusting.
I approved your comment because you make an important new point, but I urge you and everyone who comments here to be more kind and polite. There was no need to add the last two insulting words to your comment.
When I first saw the image of Kathy Griffin holding a beheaded Trump I immediately thought it was a take on the old Italian masterpieces of Judith with Holofernes head. In particular I thought of the painting by Artemesia Gentileschi which I am glad you have done a terrific article on here.
I tried to find some artist/political statement from Kathy G. and the photographer, Tyler Shields, who took the image and I had to do a lot of searching since it was lost amid all the outrage and hysteria.
Inspired by what seemed to be a point being missed I recently used images based on the classic paintings and the trump head photo, cropping, changing color, doing brushwork here and there, to create collages/montages, superimposing actual quotes/news stories about Trump’s misogyny and reports of sexual assault.
These pieces are a counter statement to the outrage, shaming, hypocrisy and hysteria in regards to beheaded Trump image vs. the cartoons/posters comparing to/burning Hillary Clinton as a witch or the news stories featuring rock stars (Ted Nugent) snickering about assassinating Obama! All a person has to do is Google and tons of images/headlines come up…
The last image from this set depicts Mother Earth holding Trump’s head, for his misogyny is ultimately attacking her as well. It seems to me that one aspect of the Trump platform was to get rid of so much ‘political correctness’. This work falls under the dictum he espoused.
Thanks for drawing a parallel between the controversial new Kathy Griffin image and classic Italian masterpieces of Judith holding the head of Holofernes. I hadn’t thought of that. Your artwork is making important connections, Stephen.