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Artemisia Gentileschi’s Revenge Is Still Radical

At the Columbus Museum of Art, three paintings made in fury and grief take us inside one of the Baroque's most original and uncompromising minds.

It’s an old story—men preying on girls and young women. Today, as women come forward to expose sexual predation, Artemisia Gentileschi stands as a perfect symbol. She stands as a figurehead for justice, having been raped in 1610 at the tender age of 17. With iron will, she endured a grueling seven-month trial, tortured physically as part of it to verify her testimony. Her abuser, Agostino Tassi, also a painter, was convicted. His punishment was exile from Rome, which was never enforced, and he served less than a year in prison. Artemisia went on to create astounding paintings throughout her life, most of which depicted powerful women. She was the first woman admitted to the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence, an academy of eminent artists of the Medici court of which Michelangelo was also a member.

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It is evident that Artemisia was influenced by her contemporary Caravaggio—their shared use of chiaroscuro, painting on a dark ground rather than the traditional white, building up to lighter tones. Unlike Caravaggio, however, Artemisia’s work centers on the power and vulnerability of women, the subjugation of men and the transformation of violence. In Judith........

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