Day 35
Most of this blog is devoted to one person, Artemisia Gentileschi. She is the subject of a major exhibition at the National Gallery. I can’t get to London to see it in person, so I have bought the catalogue and have been online and watched all the material the National Gallery has produced. It’s a different experience, but I think that looking at her work at my leisure, away from the crowds, has been as enjoyable and I can do it again and again.
Artemisia Gentileschi is a great Baroque artist, but as a female artist, would have been largely forgotten, if she hadn’t been involved in a famous rape trial. To set the scene here is a piece of music by her contemporary, the aristocrat, Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza.
One night in October, 1590, Gesualdo discovered his wife in flagrante with her lover, the Duke of Andria. He killed them where they were in bed. The authorities in Naples investigate the killing, inspecting the murder scene and interrogating witnesses. Despite the fact that Gesualdo had thoroughly mutilated the bodies to check that they were really dead, the authorities found that no crime had been committed.
The contrast between the man and his music is a true reflection of life in Italy at this time.
Carlo Gesualdo; Madrigals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs_AgCTovik
The story of a great artist who happened to be a woman
Who’s who in this story
Artemisia Gentileschi, a talented 17 year old painter who is also very beautiful
Believed to be a portrait of Artemisia, aged 16/17 by her father
Orazio Gentileschi, her father, a former Mannerist painter who is strongly influenced by Caravaggio. He does not choose his friends wisely.
Orazio Gentileschi
Tuzia Medaglia, a woman of weak character who, with her family, lodges with the Gentileschis
Francesco Scarpellino, a former servant of the Gentileschis
Agostino Tassi (real name Buonamici) aged 35, also known as Lo Smargiasso (the Bigmouth), a painter from Livorno, possibly married, possibly a widower, probably a wife murderer. He changed his name from Buonamici to Tassi when he claimed that he had been adopted by the Marchese Tassi.
Agostino Tassi
Olimpia, Tassi’s sister
Costanza, married, a teenager, sister to Tassi’s wife, pregnant probably by Tassi
Her husband
His apprentice
Cosimo Quorli, quartermaster to Pope Paul V, in charge of the Pope’s palaces, a very dirty old man
His wife
Giovanni Battista Stiattesi, his cousin from Florence
His wife
Pierantonio Stiattesi, his cousin who still lives in Florence
Pasquino, a man from Florence last seen by Artemisia when she was seven
Artigenio, a client
A Judge
A Deputy
A Notary
The background
Orazio Lomi is born in Tuscany, the son of a Florentine goldsmith in 1563. He moves to Rome in the late 1570s and takes the name Gentileschi from the uncle with whom he lives. He marries Prudenzia Montoni and in 1593, Artemisia is born. Every year until she dies Prudenzia produces a son, three of whom survive to adulthood.
In 1600, Orazio meets Caravaggio, who although a bit younger, influences him hugely both in his painting and his way of life. Gentileschi's style of painting becomes much more realistic and dramatic and his behaviour grows wilder. In late August 1603, Giovanni Baglione files a suit for libel against Caravaggio, Gentileschi, Ottavio Leoni and Filipo Trisegni accusing them of circulating rude poems about him amongst the artistic community of Rome. Although later acquitted, Orazio spends time in gaol.
Caravaggio and his friends live a wild life. During 1604, Caravaggio is in and out of trouble - for possessing illegal arms and generally acting like a hooligan. In 1605 he’s in trouble again after seriously injuring Mariano Pasqualone di Accumoli in a fight over Lena, his model and lover. He then gets into trouble for throwing rocks at his landlady’s windows when she sued him for not paying his rent. Then in 1606, it comes to a climax when Caravaggio kills Ranuccio Tommasoni, a rich delinquent, in a duel, which is, apparently, his preferred way of settling an argument. There is some debate as to the reason for the quarrel, but the fact that Caravaggio castrates Tommasoni before killing him lends credence to the theory it was over a girl.
Caravaggio flees Rome but the rest of the group of artists remain, quarrelsome and bordering on criminality.
Shortly after this, Orazio’s wife dies, leaving him to care for Artemisia, aged twelve and three younger boys. He delegates the care of the boys to Artemisia and continues his way of life, painting, drinking and fighting. At some point, worried about Artemisia’s safety (and virtue) in an all-male household, he lets the upper floor of his house to Tuzia Medaglia and her family.
When he discovers that his three sons have little interest or aptitude for painting, he turns his attention to Artemisia. It is immediately obvious that she’s destined to be a great painter and she begins to paint professionally when she’s sixteen.
In 1610 Agostino Tassi arrives in Rome from Livorno with his teenage sister-in-law, Costanza, her husband and his apprentice. Costanza is pregnant (probably by Tassi). His wife has been left behind in Livorno, possibly she is already dead (murdered?). They move in with Tassi’s sister Olimpia. His boasting and lying soon earn him the nickname Lo Smargiasso, the Bigmouth.
The Rape
In 1611, Tassi falls out with his sister, Olimpia, over money. In retaliation, she accuses him of committing incest with the pregnant Costanza (in-laws were considered the same as blood relations). This was a capital offence. Orazio has just met Tassi and thinks he is a great guy, so he supports him against the accusation. Tassi is freed. They begin to work together on Cardinal Scipione Borghese’s summer palace. Tassi latches onto Orazio and promises (probably spuriously) to get him an introduction to the Medicis and the promise of work in Florence.
The man in charge of the decoration of the Pope’s palaces is Cosimo Quorli. He is a man of power and a long term friend of Tassi. It was probably his support that got Tassi off the incest charge, as he is much more powerful than Orazio.
Orazio considers that Quorli is a mate, a drinking buddy as well as his employer, but Artemisia loathes him. Has he already made advances and been repelled? Very possibly, as Quorli seems to have been the architect of the plan to rape and disgrace her.
In April, 1611, Quorli orchestrates a meeting between Tassi and Artemisia during a visit to see Tassi’s frescoes at Monte Cavallo, but they don’t in fact get to speak. Tuzia tells Artemisia that she should make an effort to speak to Tassi as he has something important to tell her. At the beginning of May, Tuzia manages to arrange for Tassi to call when Orazio is out.
Tassi’s important news is to warn Artemisia that a former servant, Francesco Scarpellino, is spreading rumours that he has been having sex with her. Tassi says that he finds the rumours very upsetting because he counts her father as one of his dearest friends. Artemisia says she doesn’t care because she knows that it’s lies and that she’s still a virgin.
The next morning Tassi and Quorli turn up when Artemisia is still in bed. Quorli tells her what a stud Tassi is. She calls him a dirty old man and asks him to leave. To which he replies that she has given herself to so many men in the district, why can’t Tassi get a bit as well. Tassi and Quorli leave, but she is very upset. Her father, returning, sees this but she won’t tell him why. Tuzia says it’s because he keeps her confined and that he should let her out more.
Tassi tries to arrange a meeting with Artemisia but she refuses to see him. The next day she and Tuzia arrange to go on a walk to St John Lateran, but as they’re setting out Quorli and Tassi turn up and suggest an alternative outing. They are refused and Tuzia and Artemisia go to St John Lateran as planned, only to find Tassi and Quorli already there, loitering.
Despite being told to leave her alone, Tassi follows them home. Other visitors come to the house and Tassi sneaks in behind them. Getting Artemisia alone, he tells her that he will make her sorry for the way she has treated him. He leaves, but returns later through a door left open by workmen.
He finds Artemisia painting and even though Tuzia is present, he throws all her paints and brushes to the floor. Then he stalks her round and round the room repeating again and again that he is fired up by her, before finally pushing her into the bedroom. He holds her down with his knee, stuffing a rag in her mouth when she tries to scream for Tuzia. She fights back, scratching and stabbing at him with a knife. He penetrates her repeatedly, asserting that he will marry her and she can’t now refuse him. Over the next few months he repeatedly rapes her, with the collusion of Tuzia, who lets him into the house without Orazio’s knowledge. Quorli also attempts to rape her several times but Artemisia is able to fight the old man off.
At this point Quorli makes a mistake. In an effort to further control the situation, he arranges for his cousin from Florence, Giovanni Battista Stiattesi and his family to lodge at the Gentileschi’s, not realising that Giovanni Battista loathes him. Finding her sympathetic, Artemisia tells his wife what Tassi and Quorli are doing to her, but the Stiattesis take no action.
In March, 1612, during a Carnival party, in front of lots of other people, Quorli shuts Tassi in a room with Artemisia, shouting through the door, ‘It’s your own fault if you haven’t done it.’ Orazio at last realises what has been going on. He immediately petitions Pope Paul V, charging Quorli, Tassi and Tuzia with the rape of a virgin and procurement. Tassi and Tuzia are arrested. Quorli, the papal servant isn’t.
At this time rape (but only of virgins) is considered to be a crime similar to damage to property and the plaintiffs usually seek recompense in the form of a marriage between the perpetrator and the victim, or enough money to be a large enough dowry to make the victim marriageable. But this is not enough for Orazio. He wants revenge. He sees the rape as equivalent to murder.
The Due Process of the Law
The two sides are interviewed and questioned separately by a judge, a deputy and a notary.
The questions are asked in Latin and answered in Italian. The intention seems to be to catch the witnesses out rather than find the truth.
Artemisia’s First Testimony
They ask Artemisia if she bled the first time. She says that as she was having a period at the time it was difficult to say, but she thought the blood was redder than usual. She adds that she did bleed every other time he penetrated her which Tassi has said was because she was weak. She insists that she resisted each time.
She is then examined by two midwives who confirm she isn’t a virgin.
The Witnesses
Tuzia is then examined but the judges decide that she had been weak and stupid rather than criminal and release her.
The judges then interview Stiattesi who implicates Tassi, but insists that he is just a tool (!) and that the real villain is Quorli who orchestrated it all. He says that Quorli had set the whole thing up and has prevented Tassi from marrying Artemisia even though he truly loves her. Quorli has insisted that Tassi could do better for himself, but it is likely that he is just after Artemisia’s total disgrace. Muddying the waters further, Quorli also claims that he has tried to have Artemisia himself, although he has also told Stiattesi that he, Quorli, was Artemisia’s father, not Orazio. In addition to all this, Stiattesi also claims that Quorli has been stealing Artemisia’s paintings.
Tassi’s interrogation
The first thing Tassi does is to remind the judges of his high status as a painter to the Pope.
He asserts:
· It was two other men who had followed Artemisia and Tuzia to St John Lateran. I watched them from a distance, while they bought doughnuts for Francesco Scarpellino.
· Never have I had carnal relations nor tried to have it off with the said Artemisia
· I've never been alone in Artemisia's house with her.
Later
· I have in fact visited her house in order to safeguard her honour.
· Stiattesi has confessed to me that he screwed Artemisia because he liked deflowering virgins.
Then
· It wasn’t rape because Artemisia is a whore.
· Orazio got me interested in her because he was so worried by her depraved behaviour. He asked me for my help in handling her.
· It’s a malicious prosecution because Orazio and Stiattesi both owe me money.
· I only visited Artemisia because I was teaching her Perspective.
The judges ask him about his wife whom Stiattesi has claimed has been murdered by assassins hired by Tassi. Tassi denies murdering her but admits to celebrating her death because she was a whore who betrayed him.
Then he says
· I don’t actually know if she is alive or dead.
Meanwhile
At this point, on the 8th April, Quorli suddenly dies and the game changes.
Stiattesi then tries to arrange for Tassi to marry Artemisia. Tassi says that he will - if Artemisia swears that it wasn’t him who deflowered her.
On 14th May, Artemisia is brought to court and the judges ask her if she will repeat her accusations. She does.
Tassi denies them and calls her a liar. The judges ask if she would repeat her accusations even if she was tortured. She says she would, so they torture her by progressively crushing her fingers.
The torture is carried out in front of Tassi, who repeatedly barracks her, calling her a liar. She chants back over and over again “it’s true, it’s true. These ropes are the only rings you have ever given me.”
The judges stop the torture and say she can go, but Tassi insists on asking more questions in an attempt to blacken her reputation:
- What is your relationship with Artigenio? - I painted a picture of his lover.
- What was your relationship with Francesco Scarpellino? – I have never been alone with him.
- What was your relationship with a man named Pasquino? - I haven’t seen him since I was seven.
- Why hadn’t she complained about the rape earlier? – I told Stiattesi in December and he had said he would arrange a marriage between us, but then I heard you were already married.
Tassi’s defence asserts that Artemisia is a promiscuous slag, spreading her favours far and wide because she is a whore, just like her mother. At this point Orazio decides to sue Tassi for slander!
The result of this makes Artemisia’s life in Rome impossible. Stiattesi suggests that Artemisia moves to Florence and marries his cousin Pierantonio Stiattesi who is willing to take her with a dowry of 1000 gold scudi – no mean sum!
In November Tassi is found guilty of rape and suborning witnesses. He is given the choice of five years in the galleys or five years exile. He chooses exile.
At the end of November, Artemisia marries Pierantonio and leaves for Florence.
Tassi doesn’t actually leave Rome. A year later, when this is discovered, he is exiled not just from Rome but from all the Papal States, but then, on the very next day, he is pardoned.
Artemisia’s marriage is not a success, but she sets up a successful studio.
Tassi becomes such a favourite of the Pope that life in Rome becomes intolerable for Orazio and he is forced to leave for Genoa and then London.
This week’s picture
In fact it’s this week’s pictures, both by Artemisia one painted when she was seventeen, before her rape and one soon after. Both are subjects that were frequently painted at the time and it is interesting looking at Artemisia’s treatments of the subject in comparison to her male contemporaries.
The story of Susannah and the Elders
Susanna is a young married Jewish woman living in Babylon during the first exile of the Jewish people (after 586 BCE.). Susanna is bathing in the stream that runs through her garden. She is alone because she has sent her two maids into the house to fetch oil and perfumes.
It has become known that Susanna uses the stream to bathe and two Elders of the community who lust after her have broken into the garden and are spying on her.
When her maids leave, they emerge from their hiding place and try to force her to have sex with them, threatening that if she doesn’t, they will denounce her as an adulteress. As Elders, they will be believed and she won’t be. This is a very serious threat because under the law convicted adulteresses face being stoned to death.
Susanna, refuses them, preferring to die rather than be raped.
The Elders carry out their threat. She is brought before Daniel (he of the Lions’ den). However, he is not as gullible as the Elders had believed. He questions the Elders separately and exposes their lies when their stories don’t match. Susanna is vindicated and the Elders are executed for bearing false witness.
Why did a seventeen year old girl choose to paint this particular subject? Admittedly it was a fairly popular subject, given that it allowed painters to paint nude women using the fact that it was a Biblical story to clothe the subject in religious respectability, but I don’t think that was a factor in Artemisia’s decision to paint this subject. I believe she painted it because she identified with the subject. We can see from the self-portrait she painted in 1615 that she was comely and voluptuous.
Artemisia Gentileschi, 'Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria', about 1615–17
Here are four paintings of Susanna by two by Artemisia’s near contemporaries, two about fifty years earlier (all male).
Susanna and the Elders by Tintoretto, 1556
It is quite obvious that Tintoretto’s interest is in Susanna, her beauty and desirability. She is the main element of the picture and her voluptuous, naked body is bathed in a soft and flattering light. Susanna herself is also fascinated by her image as she gazes into a mirror. Tintoretto desires her and he is inviting us to do the same.
Where are the Elders, the villains of the piece, who threaten Susanna and nearly succeed in having her executed? One is almost invisible in the rear of the picture space. The other is down in the left hand corner. We have no clear view of his face as he peers round the hedge at Susanna. Tintoretto’s treatment makes them and their crime insignificant.
Susanna and the Elders, by Jan Massys (1567)
Jan Massys was born in Antwerp sometime in the first decade of the 15th century. Thanks to the sugar trade and slavery, Antwerp had become the richest city in Europe. It was also at the centre of the religious turmoil of the Low Countries. These two facts are crucial to Massys’ career. Firstly because he was exiled for several years for heresy and secondly there was a very buoyant market for religious paintings. His paintings after his return to Antwerp reflect this. He frequently used Old Testament figures such as Judith, Susanna, Bathsheba and the daughters of Lot as the subjects of his paintings. It has to be said that the female nude and eroticism are more dominant than any spiritual content. In this painting, Susanna is centre stage, her strikingly white skin (the epitome of beauty at this time) is almost luminous. Although she is not looking at us, she is displaying her body for everyone to see. Her garden is not the secluded haven of the Biblical story. It is in full view of the city and any passer-by. The elders seem less obsessed with her than the discussion they are having. This is a picture has little to do with religion. It is a piece of erotica for rich patrons.
Susanna and the Elders (1606) by Cavaliere d' Arpino, an early associate and later rival of Caravaggio
Giuseppe Cesari, otherwise known as the Cavaliere d’Arpino, was born in 1568. He was a painter of the late Renaissance, part of the Mannerist School. The Mannerists were interested in ideals of form. Proportion, balance and content had to conform to accepted rules of perfection. This leads to an artificiality where style dominates the composition. This is very evident in his depiction of Susanna. Again, we are invited to enjoy her beauty which she is displaying for us. Again, her skin is very white and her hair is golden, long and luxuriant. She is posed in some sort of classical palace which complements the classical ideal of her beauty. The significance of the story is completely lost in the celebration of beauty.
This was painted in Bologna for Cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi, the future Pope Gregory XV. It is very much in the dramatic, realistic style of Caravaggio. Although there is less emphasis on the sexuality of Susanna, she is still being displayed – almost theatrically. She is in the spotlight and the focal point of the picture. The Elders are drawn with great dynamism and they appear to be full of lust, but they are mostly in shadow. The implication would appear to be that it’s Susanna’s beauty which is to blame, not the lechery of the Elders.
Now, let’s look at Susanna’s version. Remember, she is only seventeen, so her experience is limited. This painting reflects her experience.
The nude figure of Susanna is still centre stage, but it isn’t a passive figure posed for our enjoyment. It is actively telling a story. Susanna’s fear and revulsion are clear to see. The lechers are also centre stage and are larger and more dominant than she is. They are not merely watching. They are predatory, invading her space, touching her. She is not only refusing them, she isn’t engaging with them either. Although we can see the anguish and fear in her face, the placement of her right hand means that the Elders cannot.
This painting is using the nude Susanna to illustrate the story, whereas, I believe, the other paintings, used the story to display the female nude. It is reportage rather than erotica.
It is worth remembering that this is only ten years after the trial and execution of Beatrice Cenci (subsequently the heroine of many poems, plays and an opera).
Francesco Cenci abused his first wife Ersilia, her successor and his three sons and raped Beatrice multiple times. Beatrice tried to inform the authorities about the abuse, but, because he was a nobleman, nothing was done, although his crimes were well known in Roman society.
In desperation the four Cencis and their stepmother decided to kill Francesco. In 1598, they drugged him, but this wasn’t sufficient to kill him, so they beat Francesco to death with a hammer and, in an attempt to make it look like an accident, threw the body off a balcony.
Unfortunately, it didn’t convince anyone. They were arrested, tried and convicted.
There was an outcry at the conviction and sentence, but the Pope was obdurate. The execution of the whole family was carried out in public, with the exception of the youngest brother who was only twelve and having been made to watch, was sentenced to the galley. Beatrice was also made to watch as her brothers were tortured, hanged and drawn before she, herself was beheaded. The last to die was their step mother.
The other painting I want to look at was painted in 1612/13, in the aftermath of the trial. It is Judith slaying Holofernes.
It tells the story of the death of Holofernes, an Assyrian general besieging the Jewish town of Bethulia. Judith, a beautiful widow from the town, seduces him, gets him drunk and beheads him. This is Caravaggio’s take on the subject:
It is very dramatic, but ultimately not very realistic. There is no way that Judith could have been responsible for decapitating Holofernes. She looks more like the lady of the house being instructed in how to carve a ham joint. You can almost hear her saying to her servant, “Is this how it’s done?”
Now look at Artemisia’s version:
This is a battle. Holofernes is fighting back. Judith’s maid is sitting on top of him, restraining him, while Judith seizes his hair and pulls his head back, so his throat is fully exposed. Severing a head is not easy and you can see how her muscles are tensed with effort. Her face shows concentration and determination. There is no way that she will not succeed. The narrative is clear.
I feel this painting is full of rage and wish fulfilment.
Again it is worth repeating how young Artemisia is when she is painting these two pictures. She is not yet twenty. She returns to both these subjects later in her career, but the later paintings, although very accomplished, have none of the force of these two.
Comments
Post a Comment