Reviews for The Passion of Artemisia

The average rating for The Passion of Artemisia based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-08-19 00:00:00 Jennie Donivan Susan Vreeland fairly faithfully follows and recounts the real events in the life of 17th century Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi Lomi. Passionate about her art, she fought for acceptance in the artistic community and was the first woman to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence. Raped at seventeen, Artemisia was indignant when her father, Tuscan painter Orazio Gentilesch, was paid off by her rapist to drop the charges. She had suffered during this male oriented trial, tortured with the Sibille, a type of medieval thumbscrews and has her lack of virginity publicly examined by two midwives in front to the entire courtroom. "[…] I started Judith Slaying Holofernes. I could hardly bend my fingers to grasp the egg-shaped muller to pulverise the pigments on my marble slab. Pain is unimportant. I have to ignore it. I couldn't keep my thumb in the hole of my palette […] The smears of colour made me breathe faster. Steeling myself against the pull of my skin when I held a brush, […] My heart quaked. I felt alive again." Artmisia's magnificent rendition of the well-known medieval and Baroque subject gives you an idea of her emotion. 'Judith beheading Holofernes' was completed in her late teens: Artemisia depicts herself as Judith and her rapist, the painter Agostino Tassi, as Holofernes. Married off by her father to an artist from Florence, Artemisia struggled to make a good married life in her new town. She finally gained acceptance into the Academy and enjoyed the patronage of the Medici family and Charles I. She favoured painting works of strong and suffering women from myth and the Bible - victims, suicides, warriors - and made it her speciality to paint the Judith story (from the Old Testament). Florence was a successful place for the artist but eventually her sullied reputation followed her. This and her realization of her husband's affair sent Artemisia and daughter to Genoa. She painted her beautiful rendition of Cleopatra and the Asp: Settled and happy in Genoa for nine years, she is forced to flee back to Rome when her father and her rapist move to Genoa. In Rome, she will have to resort to portrait painting, for one thing and then there is how some people greeted her, with that old stigma "whore".... "Inclinazione may have been beautiful. […] For me, the pleasure had been visual, in creating the shape and applying the colour, and tactile, in smearing heavy creamy paint onto my palette…" "The two things I wanted most in life - painting and love - and one had killed off any chance of the other." Definitions of the word 'passion' are: affection, anger, ardor, dedication, devotion, excitement , feeling, fervor, fury, intensity, spirit, temper, warmth, and zeal. There is no doubt Artemisia felt each and every one of these emotions about her art and her life as a painter. Vreeland successfully draws for you a physical and emotional portrait of an artist who would be remembered long after her lifetime. The author adeptly lured me into Artemisia's world, her painting and her life so successfully that at the novel's close, I spent hours on the Internet images of her work. 4★

Review # 2 was written on 2017-02-21 00:00:00 Joe Strand "If a person loves something above all else, if he values the work of his heart and hands, then he should naturally, without hesitation, pour into it his whole soul, undivided and pure. Great art demands nothing less." Artemisia Gentileschi, 17th century Italian Baroque painter, was passionate about her life's work. Author Susan Vreeland presents a compelling glimpse at one of the most fascinating and progressive artists of her time. Artemisia is raped by her father's colleague, scrutinized and tortured by the courts, treated as a wrongdoer rather than a victim, and scorned by the people of Rome. Yet despite the turmoil of her young life, she overcomes all this and goes on to paint what are considered some of the most brilliant paintings of all time. She becomes the first woman ever accepted into the prestigious Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence. The story of Artemisia's life is one of betrayal, the meaning of forgiveness, and the relationships between fathers and daughters and mothers and daughters. It's about the role of women in a male-dominated society and profession, as well as the powerful influence of the Vatican in matters outside the boundaries of religion alone. There are some gorgeous descriptions of not just Artemisia's work, but of the art produced by other accomplished masters of Italy as well. Having no talent for art whatsoever, I still get caught up in the expressive language and descriptions of paintings and sculptures and did so once again. As Artemisia's name becomes known and her creativity sought after, she moves within Italy as patrons summon and commission her to paint for them. The cities of Florence, Genoa, Naples, Venice and Rome come alive for the reader, as they did for Artemisia. "Every shade of yellow ochre, sienna, orange, cinnamon, and dull green powders spilled out of large muslin bags onto the street. The colors of my new city. In every piazza a sculpture, in every niche the patron saint of some guild. Everywhere I looked, art! A new life was opening for me." Yet, despite all this, Artemisia is followed throughout her life by the shadow of the monstrous crime committed against her, by the bitterness towards the perpetrator and towards her father whose actions surrounding the trial trouble her spirit. She struggles to make sense of a daughter who would choose love over painting. An engaging and enjoyable piece of historical fiction, The Passion of Artemisia lacked a bit of a connection to its characters. I admired Artemisia, but felt a bit distanced from her. Perhaps simply because I lack the passion for making art myself - although I marvel at the beauty of works of art. The narrative was a bit rushed at certain times, squeezing in a large portion of her life into a fairly short book, considering. I have to say that the ending was moving and splendidly written. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about the life of an artist and perhaps historical fiction lovers in general. 3.5 stars rounded up