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Tag Archives: Chiaroscuro

On Artist Artemisia Gentileschi

28 Sunday Feb 2016

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Italy, Renaissance

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Artemisia Gentileschi, Career, Carravagio, Chiaroscuro, Orazio Gentileschi, Rape and Trial

Self-portrait_as_the_Allegory_of_Painting_(La_Pittura)_-_Artemisia_Gentileschi

Artemisia Gentileschi, Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1638–9, Royal Collection (the painting may be a self-portrait)

Artemisia Gentileschi (8 July 1593 – c. 1656) was one of the finest painters of her days. She is the second woman associated with the Baroque period we are discussing. In the fine arts, the Baroque era begins in the late 16th century and ends towards the middle of the 17th century. Artemisia is a 17th-century Italian artist.

Artemisia was born in Rome and first apprenticed with her father, Orazio Gentileschi  (1536 – 1639). Orazio moved to France in 1624 at the invitation of Marie de Medici (26 April 1763 -3 July 1642), but left for England two years later, where he remained until his death.

In 1638, Artemisia would join him in England. Orazio died in 1639, but Artemisia did not leave England until she had completed her commissions. “According to her biographer Baldinucci (who appended her life to that of her father), she painted many portraits and quickly surpassed her father’s fame” (Britannica). By 1642, she was back in Italy.  

Influences

  • Orazio Gentileschi
  • Caravaggio
  • the Carracci brothers (Bologna)

There can be no doubt that her father, Orazio Gentileschi, influenced Artemisia, but her paintings are described as naturalistic and were not idealized, in which she differs from her father.

Artemisia and her father were influenced by Caravaggio (29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), the artist who inaugurated chiaroscuro (le clair-obscur) or tenebrism, the use of a dark background. Caravaggio exerted influence on several painters such as Georges de La Tour (13 March 1593 – 13 January 1652), Gerrit van Honthorst (4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656) and Trophime Bigot (1579 – 1650). By and large, the word chiaroscuro is now used to describe a technique: light colours on a dark background.

Artemisia was also influenced by the brothers Carracci, by members of the Bolognese school, and by colleagues. She was a history painter who depicted scenes from the Bible and other religious subject matter. Moreover, she was a portraitist.

338x450x95793-004-1FE20896_jpg_pagespeed_ic_cFIEF-6hUh

Portrait of a Lady Dressed in a Gold Embroidered  Elaborate Costume, (nd) (Courtesy Britannica)

Chiaroscuro

I noted that Lavinia Fontana (24 August 1552 – 11 August 1614), a portraitist mainly, who lived at approximately the same time as Artemisia Gentileschi, used aa dark background. One has the feeling that tenebrism‘s subject matter is carved out of darkness, which is a lovely thought as artists are creators, even in representatial paintings. The painting featured immediately below, young Artemisia’s first painting is not caravaggesque. But it is rather prophetic.

Susanna_and_the_Elders_(1610),_Artemisia_Gentileschi

Susanna and the Elders, 1610 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Rape

  • the impossible Nozze di Riparazione
  • Orazio presses charges
  • the marriage & Florence

In 1611, Artemisia’s father hired artist Agostino Tassi (Perugia, 1578– Rome, 1644), both as an assistant and as teacher to his daughter. Tassi raped Artemisia, but another man, Cosimo Quorli(s), was involved.

At the time of the rape, Orazio rented an upstairs apartment in his house to a woman named Tuzia or Tutio, a chaperone who befriended Artemisia. However, on the day of the rape, the woman let the men into the house and did not respond when Artemisia screamed for help.

After the rape, Artemisia continued to have sexual relations with her rapist. Her continuing to have sexual relations with Tassi may be otherwise explained, but it seems she believed he would marry her, as he promised, thereby restoring her dignity and giving her the future he had taken away. However, foremost in her father’s eyes was restoring Artemisia’s honour. This recourse was not uncommon in Artemisia’s times. In Italy, such a marriage was called nozze di riparazione (a reparation marriage). Tassi reneged on his promise and Orazio pressed charges.

The Trial

  • the trial
  • torture
  • the mariage

During the five-month trial, it was revealed that Tassi was already married, that he planned to kill his wife and that he had entered into an adulterous relationship with his wife’s sister. Tassi was found guilty of rape, but never served a day of his one-year prison sentence. In fact, he was freed. During the trial, Artemisia had to submit to a gynecological examination and was tortured: the thumbscrew, for the purpose of eliciting evidence.

A month after the trial, Orazio married his daughter to Pierantonio Stiattesi. The couple lived in Florence where, in 1618, Artemisia bore Pierantonio a daughter who was named Prudentia, after Artemisia’s mother. Three sons were born to Pierantonio, but Artemisia is reported to have given birth to one daughter and to have lived in Naples in order to be near Prudentia.

800px-Artemisia_Gentileschi_-_Giuditta_decapita_Oloferne_-_Google_Art_Project

Judith slawing Holofernes (1614 – 20) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

800px-Gentileschi_judith1

Judith and her Maidservant (1613 – 14) (Photocredit: Wikipedia)

Artemisia Gentileschi’s Career

  • Florence
  • Rome & Venice
  • Naples & London

In Florence, Artemisia was associated with the Medici court and enjoyed great success. She painted an Allegory of Inclination (Allegoria dell’Inclinazione) (c. 1616) commissioned by Michelangelo Buonaratti the Younger, Michelangelo’s grandnephew, “for the series of frescoes honouring the life of Michelangelo in the Casa Buonarotti.” (Britannica). In 1616, she joined Florence’s Academy of Design (Accademia di Arte del Disegno) and was the first woman to do so. In short, “[w]hile in Florence she began to develop her own distinctive style” (Britannica).

Artemisia ran into debts because she and her husband were allowed to buy art material on credit. Pierantonio bought more than could be repaid. Creditors were at the door, so to speak. In 1621, she decided to eave for Rome, which her marriage.

Artemisia’s (1593 – 1653/6) career can be divided as follows, i.e. by naming localities:

  1. She was in Florence (1614 – 1620),
  2. in Rome and Venice (1621–1630), and
  3. in Naples and England (1630–1653).

Death

Very little is known concerning Artemisia Gentileschi’s final years and her death, but she may have been a victim of the 1656 outbreak of the plague that decimated Naples’ artistic community.

—ooo—

Artemisia Gentileschi lost her mother at the age of 12 and it appears she was not taught to read or write. Yet, in Florence (1614 -1620), she befriended Galileo Galilei, with whom she corresponded, in letters, for many years. (See Artemisia Gentileschi, Wikipedia)

Where did she find the courage to marry Pierantonio Stiattesi, to bear him at least one child, and to give birth after a violent rape? We know that she settled in Naples to be near her daughter. She was a good mother.

Works

Judith beheading Holofernes is Artemisia’s most notorious painting. Her treatment of Judith and Holofernes, a familiar subject matter to artists, is one of the most violent and bloody to have come down to us. Artemisia produced a second Judith slaying Holofernes. But she nevertheless painted other scenes from the Bible and various religious scenes, as did her contemporaries, and she was a fine portraitist. Germaine Greer[2] points to the strength of the women she depicted: strong hands, strong bodies, flesh.

Artemisia produced paintings about Bathsheba and David. According to Britannica, Bathsheba was raped and became pregnant. Her husband, a soldier, refused to make believe he was the child’s father. David had him killed and married Bathsheba. King David is Solomon’s father. Artemisia retold rape and violence, albeit subconsciously.

Conclusion

Could it be Artemisia Gentileschi never looked upon her circumstances as potentially paralyzing and that it never occurred to her that she lived in a man’s world? The image below, considered a self-portrait, shows a strong woman playing the lute. The following image is a serene portrait of St Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians whose feast day is celebrated on 22 November. Her paintings of the slaying of Holofernes are gruesome (the first one in particular) and may well reflect her experience.

Yet, although her artwork depics strong women, Artemisia drew much of her subject matter, including the slaving of Holofernes, from sources used by artists of her life and times. She did not live in seclusion, but belonged to a community of artists who may have influenced her and vice versa. Moreover, she had to make a living.

There is a lore of Artemisia Gentileschi listed in her Wikipedia entry (see Artemisia Gentileschi). Her rape is likely to attract the attention of artists, novelists and filmakers, but she was not entirely defined by her rape and the trial that ensued. Artemisia Gentileschi is the woman who corresponded with no less than Galielo Galilei, but first and foremost, she is artist Artemisia Gentileschi.

As mentioned at the top of this post Artemisia Gentileschi had female colleagues. I have discussed portraitist Lavinia Fontana  (24 August 1552 – 11 August, 1614), excluding the many little dogs featured in her paintings, but Sofonisba Anguissola (1532 – November 1625) was also a female colleague. I will discuss Sofonisba. Artemisia Gentileschi is Germaine Greer’s “Magnificent Exception,” which does not underrate her female colleagues’ art.

With kind regards to everyone. ♥

Artemisia_Gentileschi_-_Self-Portrait_as_a_Lute_Player

Self-Portrait as a Lute Player (1615-17) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

800px-Artemisia_Gentileschi_-_St_Cecilia_Playing_a_Lute_-_WGA08561

St Cecilia Playing a Lute (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


RELATED ARTICLES

  • On Artist Sofonisba Anguissola (4 March 2016)
  • On Artist Artemisia Gentileschi (28 February 2016)
  • On Artist Lavinia Fontana (17 February 2016)

 

Sources and Resources

  • Artemisia Gentileschi, Wikipedia
  • the Encyclopædia Britannica
  • Germaine Greer

____________________

[1] “Artemisia Gentileschi”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 27 févr.. 2016
<http://www.britannica.com/biography/Artemisia-Gentileschi>.

[2] Germaine Greer, “The Magnificent Exception,” The Obstacle Race: the Fortunes of Women Painters and their Work (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1979), pp. 189 – 207.

 

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© Micheline Walker
28 February 2016
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“Capuchins” move to Town

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, France, History, The Church

≈ Comments Off on “Capuchins” move to Town

Tags

17th-century France, Bourgeois, Capuchins, Chiaroscuro, Georges de la Tour, Joseph the Carpenter, la Taille, The Splendid Century, towns, W. H. Lewis

 
Joseph the Carpenter (detail)

Joseph the Carpenter (detail) by Georges de La Tour (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The image featured above has little do to with the bourgeois and bourgeoisie, but it is the work of Georges de La Tour (13 March 1593 – 30 January 1652), a French baroque artist who used chiaroscuro, sharp contrasts.

However, the work dates back to the 17th century in France, where our bourgeois is moving to town, a difficult endeavour.  Peasants fleeing the countryside were sometimes asked to pay the Taille for the ten years following their leaving for towns. Moreover, when these peasants arrived in town, many had to provide a financial guarantee to the municipality where they wanted to settle.  This information is available from W. H. Lewis Splendid Century, an online publication. Simply click on Splendid Century.

Reading Chapter VII will also provide you with the following information on Capuchins in the 17th century.

“The attitude of the corps de ville towards the admission of religious orders within the walls was a cautious one, for the establishment of a new religious house raised all sorts of municipal problems. Would the parish priest’s income fall off? Would the revenue of the other houses of religious decline? If the order was a mendicant one, what would be the effect on the town charities? Teaching orders were, however, welcome, and so too were the popular Capuchins, for a curious reason. Fire brigades did not exist before 1699, and, somehow or other, the Capuchins had become expert firefighters; in emergencies, in which the modern Londoner dials “fire,” the seventeenth-century householder sent for the Capuchins. Finally, all towns fought hard, but generally unsuccessfully, to prevent the Jesuits settling in their midst.” [I] 
 

One reason for moving to a town was tax exemption. One cannot generalize because of discrepancies from town to town, but the bourgeois was often exempt of taxation, the Taille in particular, an onerous tax.

Peasants were trampled on shamelessly, depending on their Seigneur. Again, one cannot generalize, except cautiously.

My best regards to all of you.

____________________

[I] W. H. Lewis, The Splendid Century: Life in the France of Louis XIV (New York: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1957 [1953]), p. 162.

Joseph the Carpenter, by Georges de la Tour
Joseph the Carpenter by Georges de La Tour
© Micheline Walker
18 June 2014
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Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

22 Sunday Apr 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

art, Basket of Fruit, Caravaggio, Chiaroscuro, Daniel Barenboim, Milan, Songs Without Words, Still life

 

Still Life with Fruit, by Caravaggio

Caravaggio (Milan, 28 September 1571 – Porto Ercole, 18 July 1610) introduced chiaroscuro to the world of fine arts.  But the above painting is chiaroscuro in reverse: the backdrop is pale.  Usually, the backdrop is dark. 

Chiaroscuro is a painterly, rather than linear, approach to creating dimensionality in a painting or grisaille.  

I believe this is my shortest blog ever.  Let the picture speak for itself.  I hope it will bring you pleasure. 

To view the complete works of Caravaggio, please click.  

 

22 Mendelssohn Lieder ohne Worte, Op.53 – No. 4. Adagio in F ‘Sadness of Soul’, Daniel Barenboim (piano)      

(please click on the title to hear the music)

 

 

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Chiaroscuro: Shades & Shapes

21 Saturday Apr 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art

≈ Comments Off on Chiaroscuro: Shades & Shapes

Tags

Caravaggio, Chiaroscuro, Diego Velázquez, El Greco, Encyclopædia Britannica, Georges de la Tour, Raphael, Rembrandt

Allegory, Boy Lighting Candle in Company of Ape and Fool by El Greco

Allegory, Boy Lighting Candle in Company of Ape and Fool by El Greco

El Greco (1541 – 7 April 1614)

This painting was inserted in my last post and was supposed to grow larger when one clicked on the picture.  It didn’t.  So I have reintroduced El Greco’s “Allegory” as it is a fascinating example of candlelight chiaroscuro.

Movements and Techniques

The above painting, by El Greco, born Doménikos Theotokópoulos, constitutes in fact an instance of the successful use of both chiaroscuro and the Golden section, but it is also an example of mannerism in painting.  Mannerism follows the High Renaissance painting of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) and it is a movement.  Chiaroscuro is not a movement.  It is a technique.

El Greco’s manneristic paintings are characterized by elongated and occasionally distorted elements, such as somewhat mishapen body limbs.  His paintings are also busy, which is not case with neo-classical works.  Moreover, in the painting featured above, El Greco uses a form of chiaroscuro, but mannerism, a movement, does not have to feature chiaroscuro.

Caravaggio (29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610)

Caravaggio (le Caravage) is the artist who introduced chiaroscuro, and there are degrees of chiaroscuro.  Tenebrism is its strongest expression.  I suspect, however, that the historical importance of Caravaggio lies more in his effort to give objects relief or dimensionality, which was a chief concern of Renaissance realism and which situates the introduction of chiaroscuro at a specific moment in history.

The moment is the Renaissance.  The Renaissance is its birthplace, as it is the birthplace of the point de fuite or the vanishing point.  But it remains that, as a technique, chiaroscuro will be a lasting legacy, as will the vanishing point and perspective in general, whereas movements will follow the whims of fashion.  To a large extent, chiaroscuro will in fact be a matter of choice, which differentiates it from perspective, a more permanent feature.  Yet, it remains a technique.

Other artists are associated with the use of chiaroscuro (light-dark, or vice-versa). The following is a quotation from the Encyclopædia Britannica: “The single most important painter in the tradition was the Frenchman Georges de La Tour, though echoes of Caravaggio’s style can also be found in the works of such giants as Rembrandt van Rijn and Diego Velázquez.” [i]

So there are forms of chiaroscuro.  There are paintings where a light emanating from a candle makes an area of the painting light.  Georges de La Tour uses this technique frequently, but he is not a mannerist.

Georges de La Tour (1593 – 1652)

The Newborn by Georges de la Tour (Photo credit: WikiArt.org)

The Newborn by Georges de La Tour
(Photo credit: WikiArt.org)

As indicated in the Encyclopædia Britannica, the use of chiaroscuro is prevalent in the paintings of Georges de la Tour (1593-1652).  But La Tour is a realist.  Moreover, here we are looking at the above-mentioned candlelight chiaroscuro.  On an excellent internet site devoted to La Tour’s realism, Misty Amanda Vandergriff, writes that La Tour is also considered “to be a follower of Caravaggio [29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610] due to his dependency on specific elements of the Caravaggesque style (most notably the use of chiaroscuro and tenebristic techniques).” [ii]
 
 
 

Contemporaries

Also associated with the use of chiaroscuro are Italian artists such as Artemisia Gentileschi (July 8, 1593–1652), Spanish artist Jusepe de Ribera and Dutch artists Gerrit van Honthorst and Dirck van Baburen.  Honthorst and Baburen were Utrecht artists.

Judith and her Maidservant  (1613-14) by Artemesia Gentileschi

Judith and her Maidservant
(1613-14) by Artemisia Gentileschi

In other words, the history of Fine Arts presents similarities with the history of literature and with history in general.  When Caravaggio introduced chiaroscuro, he was innovating.  Renaissance imperatives called for as faithful a depiction of reality as could be achieved.  This led to the development of certain techniques, some of which ended up overriding the moment and movements.

We have long left the Renaissance, but the use of chiaroscuro has lasted.  Moreover, we still have the grisaille, a monochrome, chrome meaning colour, form of chiaroscuro.  But, the time has come to close this post.  So let’s look at David’s use of chiaroscuro and also look at one of his grisailles and then walk away from the computer.

Jacques-Louis David (1748 – 1825)

Jacques-Louis David‘s (30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) “Death of Marat” does indeed demonstrate the enduring usefulness of chiaroscuro.  “The Death of Marat” dates back to 1793.  The years had therefore made chiaroscuro one of many tools used by artists to achieve an aesthetic goal.  In the case of Jacques-Louis David’s depiction of the “Death of Marat,” chiaroscuro lends drama to David’s painting and serves to explain why “La Mort de Marat” is considered a masterpiece.  But, I am also including “Patroclus,” a grisaille by David, where chiaroscuro is achieved to a large extent by the use of a beam of light, another form of chiaroscuro.

Patroclus by Jacques-Louis David (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Patroclus by Jacques-Louis David (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

La Mort de Marat by Jacques-Louis David, 1793 (Photo credit: WikiArt.org

La Mort de Marat by Jacques-Louis David, 1793 (Photo credit: WikiArt.org)

[i] “Caravaggio,”  Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 20 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/94587/Caravaggio>.
 
[ii] Misty Amanda Vandergriff, “The Realism of Georges de la Tour” http://www.students.sbc.edu/vandergriff04/georgesdelatour.html
 

—ooo—

Georges de la Tour (1593-1652) 
Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791)
Requiem K 626
                      

Judith_and_MaidservantPitti

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April 21st, 2012
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