Artemisia Brief Synopsis
ARTEMISIA - a story of the passion and power of a woman's fight against the odds to be recognised and respected as an artist. As bold and dramatic as the paintings themselves, Artemisia lived in a world of grand passions and great art.
Artemisia Gentileschi [1593-1653] was one of the great artists of the Italian Baroque period. She strove to be recognised in patriarchal, Catholic Rome where the role of the artist was clearly the realm of men. Men like her father Orazio Gentileschi who was a follower of the style of Caravaggio and trained his daughter as an artist.
Against the magnitude of the works of Caravaggio and Orazio, witness the struggle of Artemisia Gentileschi and her Father to have her remarkable talent recognised.
In Artemisia's paintings women are “convincing protagonists and courageous heroes” capable of great deeds, yet struggling for recognition in an unforgiving world. Artemisia Gentileschi is as courageous as the heroines she painted.
She absorbed the drama and passion of Caravaggesque realism and made it her own. She took traditional themes and re-interpreted them from a woman's point of view. Despite her extraordinary talent she was viewed as a novelty…a 'woman who painted' rather than an artist whose work mattered.
Not only did Artemisia take on the gender prejudice of a regime that resisted change, she had to overcome great personal trauma. At the age of seventeen Artemisia was raped by her teacher, the painter Agostino Tassi. On discovering Tassi's betrayal, Orazio Gentileschi took the matter to court in what was to become a seven month trial of public humiliation and even torture for Artemisia. It is the first rape trial to be fully documented.
ARTEMISIA…a story of genius, courage, determination, survival and love.
ARTEMISIA has a cast of 6 principal characters and a chorus of ten that cover the minor roles. The style of the piece lends itself to a larger company where possible
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