SRP Book Review #6

The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland

288 pages

(At left, Judith Slaying Holofernes, Artemisia Gentileschi, circa 1620)

Susan Vreeland is carving out a niche for herself with novels about artists--I enjoyed The Girl in Hyacinth Blue , and since I'd studied Artemesia Gentileschi in a couple of art history classes, I was pretty sure I'd enjoy this book.

One of my college professors was sort of obsessed with female artists who'd led difficult, remarkable lives. Artemisia Gentileschi was part of a triumverate of his favorites (along with Hildegaard von Binghen and Frida Kahlo). I was familiar with the story of Artemisia's rape by Agostino Tassi, a colleague of her father (also a painter) and subsequent trail (in which she was tortured to ensure that she was telling the truth. There was a french film made in 1997 that told the story of the events leading up to her rape, through the trail, which depicted the event as consentual. I guess it is really not possible to tell what actually happened, so this is a valid interpretation, but it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Because of this, I was curious to see how her story would be treated here.

Vreeland made an interesting and effective choice by choosing to open the book during the trial. The first few chapters deal with the trial, but the rest of the book handles Artemisia's subsequent marriage, career as an artist in Florence, and relationship with her daughter. There isn't any ambiguity here about whether her relationship with Tassi was consentual, and it was interesting to see how the rape affects her art, personal relationships, and psyche over the next 30 or so years. The damage to her relationship with her father is examined in particular.

If you read the book, you are going to want to look at some of Artemisia's paintings. Here are some that are mentioned in the book. My professor was particularly fond of putting her Judith Slaying Holofernes next to Caravaggio's as an example of the differences between male and female attitudes towards the story and the representation of women in paintings.

Caravaggio's Judith Beheading Holofernes
Artemisia's Judith Slaying Holofernes, circa 1613
Susanna and the Elders
Allegory of Inclination
The Penitent Magdalen
Lucretia
Portrait of a Gonfaloniere
Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes
Self Portrait as Allegory of Painting