Artemisia Gentileschi in Florence, 1613-1620

Lecture in English by Sheila Barker

 

Although Artemisia spent only six years in Florence, arriving in the city at age 19, arguably her creative and technical powers as a painter reached their peak during these years and the works she left behind at the Medici court are among her greatest. But how did she manage to achieve so much so quickly, and just following a rape trial in Rome? New archival evidence about her marriage, her finances, her friends, and her patrons will put the painter in a new light, dispel some entrenched myths, and reveal the clever conceptual play behind her striking imagery for the Florentine court. Dr Barker is part of the Medici Archive Project. 

 

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