ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI.
The life of Artemisia Gentileschi was more in the world and more brilliant. She was the daughter of the painter Orazio Gentileschi, was married to Pier Antonio Schiattesi, and lived long in Naples. Receiving her earliest lessons from Guido Reni, at a later period she studied the works of Domenichino, one of the best masters of expression in the Bolognese school. Her great reputation was acquired by numerous portraits, and her skill in this species of painting obtained for her the honor of a call to the English court, whither her father accompanied her. There the art-appreciating monarch Charles I. gave her abundant employment. She was esteemed not inferior to her father in historical pieces. King Charles placed several of her works among his treasures. “David with Goliath’s head” was considered her best. Some of the royal family sat to her for their portraits, as did several of the nobility. A female figure, representing Fame, of great merit, was in the royal collection. Her own portrait is in Hampton Court, painted in the powerful and vivid style of Michael Angelo. Wägen says she excelled her father in portraits.
Having reaped a rich, reward for her labors in England, she returned to Naples, where she seems to have established herself in much splendor. She died in 1642, at the age of fifty-two. Several letters addressed to the Cavalier del Pozzo were found among her papers. In one, dated 1637, she inquires coolly after her husband. “Sia servita darmi nuova della vita o morte di mio marito.” Some of her letters contain orders for gloves; now her request to the Pope was permission for a priestly friend to bear arms; now she appealed to the Cardinal Barberini, then, all powerful in Rome, for assistance in disposing of some large picture, to furnish means to provide for the wedding of a daughter with suitable magnificence; after the granting of which favor, she would add, in the Italian fashion, that, “free from this burden,” she would return contented to her home. A fine specimen of her skill in painting is a picture of “Judith,” in the Palazzo Pitti, which shows, in its ground-work, the principles of the school of Bologna; while its finish, on the other hand, exhibits the startling effects of the Neapolitan school. Lanzi says, “It is a picture of strong coloring, of a tone and intensity that inspires awe.” Mrs. Jameson remarks, “This dreadful picture is a proof of her genius, and, let me add, of its atrocious misdirection.” But the artist should not be censured for her treatment of a subject which may not have been her own choice. “Susannah and the Elders” pleases by the scene and the drapery of the figures. The “Birth of John the Baptist,” in the Museum of Madrid, painted by this lady as a family piece, displays the same combination, but has more of the freedom of nature, and a certain boldness that betokens familiar acquaintance with life and the best models.