Description

---

The catalogue accompanying the blockbuster exhibition at The National Gallery, London, which The Guardian has called 'epochal' and 'superbly curated'

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1654 or later) is the most celebrated woman artist of the baroque period in Italy. Her career spanned more than 40 years, as she moved between Rome, where she was raised and trained by her father, Orazio Gentileschi, to Florence, where she gained artistic independence and became the first female member of the city’s academy of artists, and to Venice, London, and Naples. Often featuring heroic female subjects, her paintings were predominantly intended for private clients. Today they are recognized for their dramatic power and originality, showing Artemisia to be one of the most compelling storytellers of her time. This beautiful book includes essays on her life and career; a discussion of her personal and artistic relationship with her father; a summary of critical writings and an overview of the wide range of approaches to Artemisia’s work since her rediscovery by feminist art historians more than 50 years ago; a more personal insight into Artemisia through her letters; a discussion of the artist’s self-representation in her work; and an essay dedicated to her painting technique.

Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

Exhibition Schedule:

National Gallery, London
(October 3, 2020–January 24, 2021)

About the Author

---

Letizia Treves is James and Sarah Sassoon Curator of Later Italian, Spanish, and French 17th-Century Paintings at the National Gallery, London.

Praise For…

---

“This catalogue not only presents us with pictures of her paintings (including a number that are not in this exhibition), but also with images of works by her art-historical influencers as well as close-ups and x-radiographic revelations.”—Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times ‘Best Art Books of the Year 2020’
 
 
 

“This Baroque painter put herself on the front lines of her dramatic tableaux. This catalog’s new scholarship reveals how Gentileschi blended self-portraiture and allegory . . . There is much more to Gentileschi than the violence she depicted: This book also reproduces recently discovered letters to a lover, swearing, ‘I am yours as long as I draw breath.’”—Jason Farago, New York Times (“Best Art Books of 2020”)