Women in History: Artemisia Gentileschi’s Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting
Surrounded by portraits of and by male artists, Artemisia Gentileschi’s (1593-1652) oil on canvas Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura) 1638-39 stands out in the midst of Vancouver Art Gallery’s “The Royal Collections: Portrait of the Artist” exhibition. As one of the only woman artist portraits, it pronounces itself in entirety to symbolise the prominence she has given females in history as she paints herself as La Pittura. She depicts herself not as females had been seen before, but as a hard working artist in the MIDST of creating a work of art. One of the most recognizable writers of Artemisia’s Self-Portrait and Biography Mary D. Garrard had stated “[she] made an audacious claim upon the core of artistic tradition, to create an entirely new image that was quite literally unavailable to any male artist]”, and this is dominant reasoning for the intrigue Artemisia contains as a historical female figure …show more content…
Artemisia’s pendant is shown with a masked face to symbolize the imitation, which is the emulation artists create in their work. Her wisps of hair are a reference to the “divine frenzy of the artistic temperament.” Her dress is made of drappo cangiante, a changing coloured material, used to display an artist’s skills of being able to DEPICT a challenging garment. The convention of the allegorical figure of painting was created by a woman, if a man were to do a self-portrait, he would have to construct one with his own portrait with realism and idealism and also the figure of the allegory. Her portraiture plays along the lines of the CONTRADICTION of the muse woman served as in the eyes of painters and viewers, the pure symbolism of REFERENCES EMBODIED in art, and the female role as being a
Surrounded by portraits of and by male artists, Artemisia Gentileschi’s (1593-1652) oil on canvas Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura) 1638-39 stands out in the midst of Vancouver Art Gallery’s “The Royal Collections: Portrait of the Artist” exhibition. As one of the only woman artist portraits, it pronounces itself in entirety to symbolise the prominence she has given females in history as she paints herself as La Pittura. She depicts herself not as females had been seen before, but as a hard working artist in the MIDST of creating a work of art. One of the most recognizable writers of Artemisia’s Self-Portrait and Biography Mary D. Garrard had stated “[she] made an audacious claim upon the core of artistic tradition, to create an entirely new image that was quite literally unavailable to any male artist]”, and this is dominant reasoning for the intrigue Artemisia contains as a historical female figure …show more content…
Artemisia’s pendant is shown with a masked face to symbolize the imitation, which is the emulation artists create in their work. Her wisps of hair are a reference to the “divine frenzy of the artistic temperament.” Her dress is made of drappo cangiante, a changing coloured material, used to display an artist’s skills of being able to DEPICT a challenging garment. The convention of the allegorical figure of painting was created by a woman, if a man were to do a self-portrait, he would have to construct one with his own portrait with realism and idealism and also the figure of the allegory. Her portraiture plays along the lines of the CONTRADICTION of the muse woman served as in the eyes of painters and viewers, the pure symbolism of REFERENCES EMBODIED in art, and the female role as being a