Arcadópolis
Self-Portrait as a Female Martyr
Artemisia Gentileschi, c. 1615
What you see
This is a close-up portrait: the painter appears at bust length, turned to the right, and swings her head round to look over her shoulder. One hand, at the bottom of the picture, holds a palm frond that rises diagonally along the left edge. Her large, brightly lit face takes the center, framed by the turban and her loose hair.
Three colors dominate: the deep blue of the turban, the pink and red of the mantle and the warm tone of the skin. The fabrics are painted with loose, glossy strokes. Look at the knot of the mantle on her shoulder, which forms a kind of rose, the copper strands escaping from the turban and the thin line of the palm beside her fingers.
About Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Gentileschi learned to paint in Rome, in the studio of her father Orazio, a follower of Caravaggio, from whom she took the strong contrasts of light and shadow. In 1616 she became the first woman admitted to the Academy of the Arts of Drawing in Florence, and later worked in Venice, London and Naples for nobles and kings. She painted above all heroines from the Bible and history with uncommon force and resolve; after centuries of neglect, she is today one of the most admired painters of the Baroque.
More by Artemisia Gentileschi
The Arcadópolis Museum has 443 public-domain works in 40 rooms, free to explore in 3D in your browser.