National Gallery
6 April – 26 July 2020 (postponed)
New dates: 3 October 2020 – 24 January 2021
At the centre of the exhibition will be the Gallery’s recently acquired
Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, which will be displayed alongside other closely related works by Artemisia for the first time since its discovery in 2017.
Artemisia Gentileschi is considered one of the most accomplished followers of Caravaggio, whom she must have known personally through her father, Orazio Gentileschi. At a time when women artists were not easily accepted, she was exceptional for becoming the first female member of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence and for enjoying a long and successful career, spanning more than forty years.
'Artemisia' will bring together around thirty-five works by the Italian Baroque artist from both public institutions and private collections around the world. The exhibition will present a highly selective survey of Artemisia’s career – from her youthful training in Rome, where she learnt to paint under the guidance of her father, to her formative years in Florence and her return to Rome just a few years later. The exhibition will end with Artemisia’s brief trip to London to join her dying father, and the establishment of her studio in Naples, where she lived for the last 25 years of her life.
Artemisia Gentileschi, 'Self-Portrait as a Lute Player', about 1615-18 © Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Key loans will include Artemisia Gentileschi’s 'Self-Portrait as a Lute Player' (about 1615-18) from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, painted around the same time as the National Gallery’s own painting.
‘I will show Your Illustrious Lordship what a woman can do’
(Letter from Artemisia Gentileschi to
Don Antonio Ruffo, 7 August 1649)
The inspiration for this exhibition is
the National Gallery’s recent acquisition of Artemisia Gentileschi’s Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria (about
1615–17), the first painting by the artist to enter a UK public collection.
At a time when women artists were not
easily accepted, Artemisia was exceptional. Her career spanned more than 40
years and she gained fame and admiration across Europe, counting leading rulers
among her patrons. She was the first woman to gain membership to the artists’
academy in Florence.
Although Artemisia was greatly admired
during her lifetime, she was essentially rediscovered in the 20th century.
Certain elements of her biography – particularly her rape as a young woman and
the torture she endured during the trial that followed – have sometimes
overshadowed discussions about her artistic achievements, but today she is
recognised as one of the most gifted painters of the Italian Baroque period.
Her art and life continue to inspire novels, films, documentaries, musical and
theatrical productions.
‘with me Your Lordship will not lose
and you will find the spirit of Caesar in the soul of a woman’
(Letter from Artemisia Gentileschi to
Don Antonio Ruffo, 13 November 1649)
'Artemisia' will present a highly
selective survey of the artist’s career, bringing together around thirty of her
works from both public institutions and private collections around the world -
the majority of the loans in the exhibition have never been seen in the UK
before.
The earliest work in the exhibition
will be her first signed and dated work, 'Susannah and the Elders' (1610,
Kunstsammlungen Graf von Schönborn, Pommersfelden) painted when she was just
17. Artemisia returned to this subject throughout her career, approaching its
story afresh with each retelling, and her last-known painting, of the same
subject, dating from 42 years later, will also be included in the exhibition
('Susannah and the Elders', 1652, Polo Museale dell’Emilia Romagna, Collezioni
della Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna).
Visitors will be invited to get to know
Artemisia more fully ‘in the round’ – appreciating her wit, passion and
resilience, as well as her vulnerability - through a number of her recently
discovered personal letters, especially conserved for the show.
The exhibition is arranged broadly
chronologically, starting with Artemisia’s training in Rome, where she learnt
to paint under the guidance of her father Orazio, whose 'Judith and her
Maidservant' (about 1608, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design,
Oslo) will be on display beside Artemisia’s earliest paintings. In addition to
her 'Susannah', the first room will also include her 'Cleopatra' (about
1611-12, Etro Collection) and 'Danaë' (about 1612, Saint Louis Art Museum,
Museum Purchase).
Many of Artemisia’s paintings have been
read in the past as autobiographical and there is no doubt that her personal
identity is closely intertwined with her artistic production. This is
especially true of the paintings she produced in Florence (1612/13-20), where
she repeatedly used her own image; perhaps as a vehicle for self-promotion. The
room dedicated to her Florentine period ('Becoming Artemisia in Florence')
opens with a trio of works for which she is the model, and which all date from
the mid-1610s - 'Self Portrait as a Female Martyr' (Private collection USA),
'Self Portrait as a Lute Player' (Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford,
CT. Charles H. Schwartz Endowment Fund) and 'Self Portrait as Saint Catherine
of Alexandria' (The National Gallery, London). Nearby will also be displayed
her 'Saint Catherine of Alexandria' (Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence) which, as
recent scientific analysis in Florence and London has shown, is closely related
to the National Gallery’s own self portrait.
This room will also include one of the
undoubted highlights of the exhibition, bringing side by side for the first
time in the UK the two versions of Artemisia’s most famous and iconic
composition of 'Judith beheading Holofernes' (one about 1612-13 Museo e Real
Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples and the other about 1613-14, Gallerie degli
Uffizi, Florence). In this depiction of female determination over brute
strength, Artemisia spares us none of the gore. Blood streams down the white
bedsheets as the Assyrian general Holofernes writhes under the weight of
Judith's maidservant. Blood spatters Judith's clothes as she grasps the sword
with one hand and pulls his hair with the other, a look of determination on her
face. The visceral violence of these paintings has frequently been interpreted
as Artemisia taking revenge in paint, translating onto canvas her own
experience of physical attack. 'Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of
Holofernes' (about 1623-25, Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mr. Leslie H.
Green), a Caravaggesque masterpiece which shows a moment later in the
narrative, just as Judith prepares to make her escape from the enemy camp with
Holofernes’s head, can be seen in a nearby room of the exhibition.
‘…a woman’s name raises doubts until
her work is seen…’
(Letter from Artemisia Gentileschi to
Don Antonio Ruffo, 30 January 1649)
Artemisia had enormous gifts as a
storyteller and she brought an unprecedented, female, perspective to
traditional subjects, many of which are drawn from the Bible or ancient
history. Her paintings treat well-known themes often featuring female heroines
– Judith, Susannah, Cleopatra, Lucretia – and Artemisia was able to get under
the skin of her protagonists with astonishing sensitivity and truthfulness. Her
ability to paint female figures of strength, passion and vulnerability remain a
feature of her work throughout her career.
Highlights of ‘female heroes’ in
'Artemisia' include 'Lucretia' (about 1620-25, Etro Collection), 'Cleopatra'
(about 1633-35, Private Collection), 'Clio, Muse of History' (1632, Property of
the Fondazione Pisa, exhibited at Palazzo Blu, Pisa), 'David and Bathsheba'
(Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio: Museum Purchase, Schumacher Fund), 'Jael and
Sisera' (dated 1620, Szépművészeti Museum / Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest)
'Susannah and the Elders' (1622, The Burghley House Collection, UK), and the
recently discovered 'Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy' (about 1620-25, Private
European collection), on display in the UK for the first time.
A room called 'The Hand of the Famed
Artemisia' considers the artist through the eyes of others – a 1625 ‘portrait’
drawing of her hand by the French artist Pierre Dumonstier II, 'The Right Hand
of Artemisia Gentileschi Holding a Brush' (The British Museum), a bronze medal
'Portrait of Artemisia Gentileschi' (unknown artist, about 1625, The Stephen K.
and Janie Woo Scher Collection, New York) and a 'Portrait of Artemisia
Gentileschi' with painter’s palette in hand by her friend, the French painter
Simon Vouet (about 1623-6, Property of the Fondazione Pisa, exhibited at
Palazzo Blu, Pisa). Here we also get to see Artemisia’s own handwriting - and
‘hear’ her voice - through a series of passionate letters to her Florentine
lover Francesco Maria Maringhi, written between 1618 and 1620. These were only
discovered in 2011 and have never been seen outside of Italy (Archivio Storico
Frescobaldi, Florence).
Two rooms of the exhibition will be
dedicated to Artemisia’s time in Naples, the city in which she settled for the
last 25 years of her life and where she established a thriving studio with her
daughter Prudenza, also a painter. Here, Artemisia’s first altarpieces will be
on show – 'Annunciation' (1630, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples) and
'Saint Januarius in the Amphitheatre at Pozzuoli' (about 1635-7, Cathedral
Basilica San Procolo, Diocese of Pozzuoli, Naples) – as well as works made in
collaboration with other leading Neapolitan artists.
The exhibition will end with
Artemisia’s brief trip to London, where she was reunited with her father just
months before his death. It was here, at the court of Charles I of
England, that she painted 'Self Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La
Pittura)' (about 1638-9, The Royal Collection / HM Queen Elizabeth II), which
has long been regarded as the pinnacle of her achievements. Although not a
literal self portrait, it embodies the artist’s vision of Painting as a
physical and purposeful act and the inspired woman at her easel is
unquestionably intended to refer to Artemisia herself.
‘I shall not bother you any longer with
this womanly chatter, for the works will speak for themselves’
(Letter from Artemisia Gentileschi to
Don Antonio Ruffo, 1649-51)
The exhibition is curated by Letizia
Treves, the National Gallery James and Sarah Sassoon Curator of Later Italian,
Spanish, and French 17th-century Paintings. She says:
"Artemisia is an inspirational figure of resilience and unbowed creativity in the face of exceptionally challenging odds. I hope that this exhibition will bring Artemisia’s artistic achievements to the fore, so that visitors can fully appreciate what a talented painter and extraordinary woman she really was."
Dr Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the
National Gallery, says:
“The first exhibition devoted to Artemisia Gentileschi in Britain, a country she visited and worked in at the end of the 1630s, celebrates her astounding artistic achievements with a superb selection of her paintings. She was a remarkable and immensely admired artist in her lifetime and she is an inspirational figure in our own time.”
Michele Coppola, Executive Director
Art, Culture, and Historical Heritage, Intesa Sanpaolo says:
“Intesa Sanpaolo is delighted to support Artemisia and to make possible the conservation of a key and rarely-lent work by Artemisia Gentileschi, ‘The Martyrdom of St Januarius in the Amphitheatre’ from Pozzuoli Cathedral, in Naples. As Italy’s leading bank, we believe it is vital to support and promote the best of Italian art, heritage and culture at home and abroad. This belief is the cornerstone of our own cultural project, ‘Progetto Cultura’, one of the most ambitious arts and cultural programmes to be established by a financial institution. The acclaim of Intesa Sanpaolo’s ‘Progetto Cultura’ programme, its extraordinary exhibitions, and the reputation of its museums, the Gallerie d’Italia in Milan, Naples and Vicenza, have ensured our Bank’s standing as a world class partner in the field of art and culture. We are delighted to be in partnership with the National Gallery, London for Artemisia and look forward to our own 2021 exhibition at the Gallerie d’Italia in Naples dedicated this extraordinary Italian artist and her relationship with Southern Italy.”
