Florence, Italy: A view of il Duomo di Firenze from Piazzale Michelangelo: color photograph taken by Balon Greyjoy. September, 2016 . Designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore was begun in 1296 and completed in 1436, with a dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi.
Artemisia Gentileschi was born in Rome. But, it was in Florence that the 17th-century painter achieved her first successes, becoming the first woman accepted into the local drawing academy, the Accademia del Disegno, and finding patronage among the city’s elites, including the Medici. Her clientele would later grow to include members of several European courts.
At this time in Europe, few women were accepted as professional artists, let alone became internationally famous, a feat accomplished by Gentileschi during her own lifetime. Artemisia challenged societal conventions not only through her choice of career, but also by tackling the type of large-scale, heroic subjects traditionally exclusive to male artists–in a style that could be characterized as sumptuous, dramatic, and often spell-binding.
Today, Gentileschi is celebrated as an exceptional painter and imaginative interpreter of popular biblical and historical themes. Her work will be exhibited in several museum shows throughout the coming months.
To learn more about this remarkable Baroque period artist, stay tuned for Boulevard Arts’ next augmented reality episode, created in partnership with the Wadsworth Atheneum.