Arcadópolis
Self-Portrait as a Lute Player
Artemisia Gentileschi, c. 1615–1618
What you see
The painter appears at half length, turned to the right, with a large lute resting in her lap. One hand plucks the strings near the rose; the other presses the neck, which reaches toward the right edge. Her head, though, turns back to us: she gives a sidelong look, serious and self-assured. The instrument and her arm form a diagonal across the picture.
The dark background lets the blue of her gold-embroidered dress and her skin, lit from the left, shine. Her braided hair is gathered into a pale striped turban. Look at the pierced rose of the lute, delicate as lace, the row of dark tuning pegs and the cloth bow peeking out beneath the instrument.
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
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