Judith and Holofernes

Artemisia Gentileschi was an Italian painter, considered one of the most successful and famous painters of the 17th century after Caravaggio. At a time when women painters were not easily accepted, she was the first female painter to become a member of the Academy of Art of Design in Florence.

Daughter of Caravaggio follower Orazio Gentileschi, Artemisia moved to Florence to escape scandal in Rome after the rape lawsuit she brought against landscape painter Agostino Tassi. Documentation of this dramatic case, which concludes predictably with the humiliation of Artemisia, exists and today is often taken as a symbol of the violence that women have had to endure for centuries.

Unfortunately, those events often seem to overshadow his achievements as an artist and he was long considered a curiosity. Fortunately, today his work is being reevaluated and considered one of the most progressive of his generation.

In her work, Artemisia seems to have transferred her experience to the canvas. His paintings often feature strong, suffering women from myth and the Bible: victims, suicides, warriors. In particular, he seems to like the story of Judith, one of two paintings present in the Uffizi Gallery today.

In "Judith and Holophernes" (located in Pavilion 90 along with Caravaggio), the biblical heroine Judith, a traditional example of virtue and chastity, is shown to be about to behead her despised Assyrian enemy whom she has deceived by seduction while keeping its purity safe. The canvas was probably painted for Cosimo II de' Medici and was completed in Rome immediately after Artemisia's return there after having spent 7 years in Florence. It is signed on the lower right: "Ergo Artemitia Lomi Fec".

Due to its violence, the work was limited to a "dark corner" in the Pitti Palace and only after the death of Cosimo II did Artemisia even pay for her work, with the help and mediation of her friend Galileo.

In the Uffizi, you can also admire another work by Artemisia, "Saint Catherine of Alexandria", smaller in size compared to "Judith and Holophernes". In several of her paintings, Artemisia's heroines have a similar appearance to her self-portraits; in "Saint Catherine of Alexandria" also reminds us of her.