About the Artist

Artmisia Gentileschi (1593 Rome-after 1651 Naples) was one of the most famous female artists of her time. She studied first under her father, Orazio Gentileshci, who introduced her to the art of Caravaggio, and then under Agostino Tasso. In 1640 she went to Florence, where she was closely associated with the Academy and where she achieved great success. In 1620 she returned to Rome, but finally settled in Naples in 1628. At the end of the 1630s she was active in the English court for a short while. Gentileschi painted powerful and passionate scenes in which psychological elements are expressively translated into dramatic representations. In Naples she produced almost exclusively conventional church paintings under the influence of the solemn diety predominating there. The artist's most important works include Susanna and the Elders, c. 1610, Graf von Schonbornische Kunstsammlngen, Pommersfelden; Portrait of a Condottiere, 1622, Collezioni Comunali d'Arte, Blogna; and Judith with the Head of HOlofernes, c. 1625, Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence.