Artemisia Gentileschi's Last Susanna

Shelby A. Morgan, Portland State UniversityFollow

Subjects

Artemisia Gentileschi Years in Naples, Artemisia Gentileschi Naples works, Baroque Female Nude, Artemisia Gentileschi Last Painting, Feminist Art History, Artemisia Gentileschi Years in London, Artemisia Gentileschi and Changing Art Market, Artemisia, Reni and Rubens, Baroque Biblical Paintings

Abstract

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1645), a celebrated 17th century Baroque painter, depicted the biblical story of Susanna and the Elders six times in her long career of approximately 44 years (1610-1654). The first five were all painted and arranged vertically with Susanna's nude body exposed. Whereas her last Susanna (1652) and consequently her final known painting was painted horizontally with fabric covering, yet skimming Susanna’s nude body underneath. My research question is: Why at such a late stage in her career did Artemisia decide to reconfigure the composition of Susanna and the Elders and transform the representation of Susanna’s body through this new to her oeuvre–horizontal painting.

Much attention scholarly and in the art world focus on the early part of Artemisia’s career (1610-1629), suggesting that these were her most creative years. However, what historical evidence that has come to light in her somewhat obscured later years, is contrary to this bias. Some of the issue is that Artemisia has only been recovered from history since only the 1980’s and with every passing year, new recovered attributions and documents bring with them an opportunity to obtain further knowledge into the life and career of a major female Baroque painter. By examining Artemisia’s last Susanna, recovered in 2005, I confront some of the contemporary beliefs about her early works being superior to her more matured works of her final years.

The methods I used for my project was conducting a formal analysis and historical research.

My primary sources consist of Artemisia Gentileschi paintings: six Susanna and the Elders, Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, Hercules and Omphale, and The Annunciation. I also use paintings from Guido Reni and Peter Paul Rubens. My primary sources for text are: Catullus 64, Artemisia’s letters and Averardo de’ Medici’s Memorial of Artemisia Gentileschi. The secondary sources used are from scholars who specialize in Artemisia Gentileschi scholarship: Mary D. Garrard, Sheila Barker, Jesse Locker, Christopher R Marshall, and Adelina Modesti.

What I found in my research was that Artemisa, when she went to London, had access to new works produced by both Guido Reni and Peter Paul Rubens as she herself was at the disposal of King Charles the I court as a painter. Artemisia, known for using every opportunity to continue evolving her painterly and business skillsets must have been impressed with their accomplishments and wanted to emulate both of these qualities in these great masters of painting. However, it was surprising to me to actually find examples from Reni and Rubens works–which could be seen in Artemisia’s last Susanna. And it was through looking into the fragment of Reni’s Ariadne, that I found the painting was destroyed because of the changing moral codes- that connected the reason for Susanna’s new clothed appearance in the last Susanna.

What examining Artemisia’s last Susanna answers is that even at her late point in her career, she was still experimenting with storytelling and emotions while keeping abreast the evolving tastes of her patrons. This is a contrary finding for those who believe that Artemisia Gentileschi was not creative or innovative in her last part of her career.

For further inquiry, this painting brought to light Artemisia’s innovativeness at this time in Naples, but continued research into the importance of the apparatus of her Naples workshop, specifically how it was generative while meeting the market's needs during a politically charged time in Naples after the 1647 Revolt of Masaniello could advance our understanding at just how astute Artemisia was as a professional artist and business woman.