Even the boldest of artists has avoided painting abandoned babies, except in the Biblical story of Moses. Veronese, Poussin, Sirani, Moreau and more.
Gentileschi
A whirlwind trip through the history of compositional chiaroscuro, from the Renaissance, through Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi, to Rembrandt.
The story of Bathsheba and King David involves adultery and murder, and ultimately the triumph of power not virtue. Early paintings up to Artemisia Gentileschi.
From 1400 to the brilliant accounts by Artemisia Gentileschi, this very popular story has attracted the attention of most major painters.
Paintings of gladiatorial combat and martyrdom in the Colosseum had also been quite different before Gérôme’s ‘Ave Caesar’. Examples from Artemisia Gentileschi and others.
It isn’t really a pigment at all, was reportedly used by all the Masters from Titian to Delacroix, and destroys the paint layer. But it has actually been found in very few paintings.
His family name wasn’t Tassi, he planned to steal paintings, intended to murder his wife, had an adulterous affair with his sister-in-law, and raped Artemisia Gentileschi. But he has one redeeming feature.
How northern landscape painting was taken to Italy, and started its long journey to acceptance, and eventually Impressionism.
One king trusts his daughter into the care of his son-in-law, another king. What happens next is horrific, and shown brilliantly by Artemisia Gentileschi and Rubens.
Salome has become a femme fatale, the author of John the Baptist’s death, and a potent erotic symbol. But that was not the original story.
The Eclectic Light Company 