The Baroque period is known for some of the greatest advances in the use of tenebrism, painterly techniques, and dynamic expressionism. For this historical study, the main category that will be focused on will be the Italian Baroque, more specifically the work of the artist Artemisia Gentileschi. The Italian Baroque Period lasted from the late 16th century to the early 18th century. Gentileschi was a female artist who worked around the period of 1593 to ca. 1652. In order to narrow down the intricate details of the Italian Baroque Style, this essay will be focusing on the struggles of Gentileschi as a female artist in a male dominated period and further elaborate the misunderstood complexity of her works. By comparing Gentileschi’s Self-Portrait
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Gentileschi was allegedly patronized by Charles I, and was not commissioned to create this specific artwork. Instead, the work is considered to be the promise of Gentileschi to produce a portrait for both Cassiano dal Pozzo and Don Antonio Ruffo. Of the two portraits, one was never delivered, and the other was never actually painted. Along with the ambiguity of Gentileschi’s production process, her birth and death were never recorded, and multiple questions of her actual appearance rose in the past. After a detailed analysis and multiple comparisons, it was established that an inscribed medallion and an engraving by Jerome David would be used as a representation of her official features. Considering a lot of the artist’s history and details were hard to uncover, it becomes a challenge to be able to identify which works were actually painted by …show more content…
In this process, it was believed that the action of the sitter was more important for representing the person rather than the exact detailing of their physical features. In Gentileschi’s portrait, there is minor detailing of the face and bodice, but the focus is primarily on the action, and the facial representation is not clearly directed toward the viewer. As the actual location and history of the work is researched, it is found that this portrait was possibly the portrait intended for Cassiano dal Pozzo. Due to multiple letters and time-line analysis, historians find Gentileschi making multiple excuses for why she cannot deliver the piece, but she never clearly presents reasoning for her delays. In later letters, she begins to avoid discussing the portrait forward with Cassiano, but she never exactly cancels the production of the work either. It is due to this information, that it is believed she created this work, and when she left for her English Period, the work was instead either bought by the King or presented to him by someone else. In the end, Gentileschi missed her opportunity to become a part of Cassiano dal Pozzo’s art collection, which tended to feature multiple other famous female artists. Though she missed her opportunity to become famous through a famous collector, it is
Gentileschi was allegedly patronized by Charles I, and was not commissioned to create this specific artwork. Instead, the work is considered to be the promise of Gentileschi to produce a portrait for both Cassiano dal Pozzo and Don Antonio Ruffo. Of the two portraits, one was never delivered, and the other was never actually painted. Along with the ambiguity of Gentileschi’s production process, her birth and death were never recorded, and multiple questions of her actual appearance rose in the past. After a detailed analysis and multiple comparisons, it was established that an inscribed medallion and an engraving by Jerome David would be used as a representation of her official features. Considering a lot of the artist’s history and details were hard to uncover, it becomes a challenge to be able to identify which works were actually painted by …show more content…
In this process, it was believed that the action of the sitter was more important for representing the person rather than the exact detailing of their physical features. In Gentileschi’s portrait, there is minor detailing of the face and bodice, but the focus is primarily on the action, and the facial representation is not clearly directed toward the viewer. As the actual location and history of the work is researched, it is found that this portrait was possibly the portrait intended for Cassiano dal Pozzo. Due to multiple letters and time-line analysis, historians find Gentileschi making multiple excuses for why she cannot deliver the piece, but she never clearly presents reasoning for her delays. In later letters, she begins to avoid discussing the portrait forward with Cassiano, but she never exactly cancels the production of the work either. It is due to this information, that it is believed she created this work, and when she left for her English Period, the work was instead either bought by the King or presented to him by someone else. In the end, Gentileschi missed her opportunity to become a part of Cassiano dal Pozzo’s art collection, which tended to feature multiple other famous female artists. Though she missed her opportunity to become famous through a famous collector, it is