This beautiful book presents the work of these two painters, exploring the artistic development of each, comparing their achievements and showing how both were influenced by their times and the milieus in which they worked.

A compendium of writings, letters, and records illuminating the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, the most influential female painter of the Italian Baroque. Lives of Artemisia Gentileschi presents a fascinating look at the famous Baroque artist. Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1653) was an Italian painter known for the naturalism with which she depicted the female body and her use of rich colors and chiaroscuro. Born in Rome, she was trained by her father, the painter Orazio Gentileschi, and was working professionally by the time she was a teenager. In a period when women artists very rarely achieved success in their field, she was commissioned by royalty across Europe and was the first woman to become a member of Florence’s prestigious Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, later becoming an educator in the arts. Lending further insight into the extraordinary life of this trailblazing artist, this volume presents an absorbing collection of letters, biographies, and court testimonies supplemented with essays written by contemporaries, several of which are published here in English for the first time. The vivid illustrations include three works that have only recently been attributed to Gentileschi. An introduction by Sheila Barker, founding director of the Jane Fortune Research Program on Women Artists, contextualizes these texts and discusses Gentileschi’s legacy.

An early icon of feminist art history, the work of Artemisia Gentileschi has been largely obscured by the sensational details of her life. In this volume the contributors attempt to give a more balanced view & to approach a genuine appreciation of Artemisia's considerable artistic talents.

"The first comprehensive examination of Gentileschi's art and its pan-European influence, this interpretive study reveals how his art responded to changing artistic tastes and sociocultural influences and dispels the myth that his exquisite paintings came only from "the tip of his brush." It does so by addressing his deliberate stylistic/expressive decisions in considering subject matter, didactic function, scale, medium, physical location, and patronage. Orazio Gentileschi is presented here as the foremost painter among Caravaggio's Roman "followers," and one of the great Italian painters of the seventeenth century. Much of the text is built around events in Gentileschi's personal life--the departure from Rome of Caravaggio (under indictment for murder); the trial of Agostino Tassi (also a painter) for the rape of Orazio's daughter, Artemisia (a well known artist in her own right); a call to France by Marie de'Medici; an invitation to England from the Duke of Buckingham and King Charles I (where he became an official court painter)--since it was by them, above all, that his career was shaped. The book includes a lengthy Catalogue Raisonne encompassing autograph works, lost works, questionable attributions, and incorrect attributions; appendices summarizing over 100 documents (many not previously cited) concerning Orazio's life and work; and an extensive collection of photographs showing all of Gentileschi's preserved works (canvases, panels, frescoes, mosaics) plus a considerable number of "doubtful" and comparative paintings. Reviewers have commented that "Bissell ... has made recent important archival discoveries"; that "never before have Orazio Gentileschi's work been approached on a comparable level.""--Publisher's description.

In 17th century Rome, where women are expected to be chaste and yet are viewed as prey by powerful men, the extraordinary painter Artemisia Gentileschi fends off constant sexual advances as she works to become one of the greatest painters of her generation. Frustrated by the hypocritical social mores of her day, Gentileschi releases her anguish through her paintings and, against all odds, becomes a groundbreaking artist. Meticulously rendered in ballpoint pen, this gripping graphic biography serves as an art history lesson and a coming-of-age story. Resonant in the #MeToo era, I Know What I Amhighlights a fierce artist who stood up to a shameful social status quo.

An important reassessment of the later career and life of a beloved baroque artist Hailed as one of the most influential and expressive painters of the seventeenth century, Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–ca. 1656) has figured prominently in the art historical discourse of the past two decades. This attention to Artemisia, after many years of scholarly neglect, is partially due to interest in the dramatic details of her early life, including the widely publicized rape trial of her painting tutor, Agostino Tassi, and her admission to Florence’s esteemed Accademia del Disegno. While the artist’s early paintings have been extensively discussed, her later work has been largely dismissed. This beautifully illustrated and elegantly written book provides a revolutionary look at Artemisia’s later career, refuting longstanding assumptions about the artist. The fact that she was semi-illiterate has erroneously led scholars to assume a lack of literary and cultural education on her part. Stressing the importance of orality in Baroque culture and in Artemisia’s paintings, Locker argues for her important place in the cultural dialogue of the seventeenth century.