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Artemisia Gentileschi (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

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  Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Bruce Gulland and I'm Megan Nolette. Spotlight uses
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  a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
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  matter where in the world they live. Imagine a painting of a woman holding
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  painting tools. Her black, wavy hair spills over her shoulder. She wears
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  green clothing and gold jewelry, but it is clear she has not taken much
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  time to work on her appearance. Her face is firm, she concentrates on
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  a painting. It is as if she and the painting are the only things
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  that exist. This painting is by the Italian artist Artimisia Zentileski. It is
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  a painting of herself, but Genileski is not only painting herself. She paints
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  herself representing the spirit of art itself. One of the few successful female artists
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  in Europe, Jendileski created paintings with strong women, and often she used herself
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  as a model. Though forgotten after her death, historians now believe she is
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  one of the most important artists of her time. Today's Spotlight is on Artemisia
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  Gendileski. Artemisia Gentiliski was born in fifteen ninety three in the Italian city of
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  Rome. Her father was the famous painter Orrazzio Gentiliski. Teaching women to paint
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  was not common in those days, but Orazzio soon saw that Artemisia had a
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  talent, and he decided to teach her more. By the time she was
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  seventeen, she was creating work of her own. One of these early paintings
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  was called Susanna and the Elders. It shows a story from the Catholic and
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  Orthodox Bible. In this story, two men in the community spy on a
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  beautiful woman named Susanna while she is bathing. The two men lust after her.
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  They demand to have sex with her. They attempt to sexually attack her.
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  Many other artists painted this story. Most paintings of the story show this
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  point in time, but the painters often show the setting as the men would
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  have seen it. Susanna is a victim, but she also seems to be
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  an object of lust. In many she seems to be inviting them. Susanna's
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  body is the ideal version of a woman. That body is the center of
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  those paintings. Artimisia's painting is different. It shows Susannah turning away from the
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  men attacking her. She pushes the men away from her. She hides her
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  face in shame. The painting centers not on her body, but on her
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  face. It looks away in disbelief and anger. Artemisia's painting is also interesting
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  because of how realistic it is. Other artists show Susanna as an ideal body,
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  but Artemisia Gentiliski Susanna has the body of a real woman. She may
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  have even represented her own body in the painting. Leticia Treves works at the
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  National Gallery of London. She spoke to The New Yorker magazine about Gentiliski's work.
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  The way she paints the female body is very natural. This is someone
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  who really understands the hang of a woman's breast. She has a real sense
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  of how a woman's body behaves. Susanna and the Elders is one of the
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  first paintings that shows a sexual attack as a woman would experience it, and
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  Artemisia painted it when she was just seventeen. Sadly, Artemisia would soon experience
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  the things she painted. Agostino Tassi was a painter and friend of Artemisia's father.
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  He sexually attacked Artemisia when she was just eighteen. Tassi promised Artemisia marriage
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  afterwards, then he went back on his promise. Artemisia and her father took
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  Tassi to court for the attack, but the judges forced Artemisia to testify.
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  The testimony was very public, and the court made her wear thumbscrews while she
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  spoke. These small metal devices of torture put pressure on a person's fingers.
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  These thumbscrews were supposed to make sure Artemisia was telling the truth, but it
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  was a painful and dehumanizing experience. Eventually, the court decided Tasi was guilty.
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  They sent him into exile from the city, but the trial was very
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  public. People saw Artemisia as a disgraced woman, but she was the victim.
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  She had done nothing wrong. She soon married a man named Pierre Antonios
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  Thetesi. Together they left for the city of Florence. She had to leave
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  the city where she was born because of one man's selfish actions. The pain
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  and suffering Artemisia went through would have stopped many people. Her work as a
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  painter could have ended, but Artemisia was a strong person. She continued to
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  paint, and she turned her personal experience into art. One of Artemisia's most
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  famous paintings is called Judith Beheading Holophernes. In the painting, two women stand
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  over a man in bed. The first woman appears over the man's head.
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  In one hand, she holds a sword. The other hand holds the man's
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  hair. The man struggles against her, but the two women hold him down.
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  The first woman brings the sword against the man's neck and pulls it across
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  his neck. The man's face is a mixture of pain and fear, but
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  the two women do not seem troubled. Their faces are serious. This is
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  a job that they must get done. This is another story from the Catholic
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  and Orthodox Bible. It shows a woman named Judith killing an enemy general in
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  secret. Other artists had painted this story before, but Gentiliski's version is personal.
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  She painted Judith to look like her, and some historians believe that the
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  man may look like Tassie. The painting may have been a way of getting
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  back at the man who hurt her. The painting not only shows a famous
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  story from the Bible, it is a way of showing that her experience would
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  not defeat her. Artimisia continued to paint for her whole life, and she
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  was extremely successful. She became one of the first women in Europe to ever
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  make a living from her artwork. She was even invited to join a famous
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  arts school in Florence. She was the first woman ever to join. Soon
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  people knew about her all over the continent. She made paintings for royalty in
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  England, Spain and Italy, and she did it all while giving birth to
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  five children. Still, Artemisia struggled because she was a woman. People often
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  paid less for her paintings, and when she died, people quickly forgot about
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  her. Historians saw her as strange. It was not until the twentieth century
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  that people began to rediscover her work. Her paintings often put women in places
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  of respect or power. These spoke to many feminist thinkers. She was a
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  woman who achieved high honor in a time that did not accept successful women.
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  She defeated her pain and became an important international artist. Art often helps people
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  get through difficulties or understand themselves. Have you ever made any art? What
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  did it teach you about yourself? You can leave a comment on our website
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  or email us at Radio at Radio English dot net. You can also comment
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  on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash Spotlight Radio. The writer and producer of
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  this program was Dan Christman. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom
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  and the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by
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  Spotlight. You can listen to this program again and read it on the internet
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  at www dot Radio English dot net. This program is called Artemisia gentilist Ski.
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  You can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device
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  through our free official Spotlight English app. We hope you can join us again
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  for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,