Artemisia Gentileschi is an amazing historical figure. A survivor who endured torture and humiliation when she tried to convict the man who raped her, she is famous for her beautifully rendered paintings of defiant women enacting violence upon men. Above are Judith Slaying Holofernes, Judith and Maidservant, and Jael and Sisera. It is rumored that Judith Beheading Holofernes is a self-portrait, in which Judith was painted in Gentileschi’s likeness and Holofernes was modeled after her rapist. hate her paintings evoke. You can see these paintings were a way for her to deal with the anger and pain she must have felt, and they always leave me in awe.
Reblogged from Boxlunch, you wanna boxlunch?
