Art in Early Modern Italy: Artemisia Gentileschi and Caravaggio

Abstract

This paper compares the careers of two internationally known painters from seventeenth century Rome, one male and one female, to further understand the broader gender relations of early modern Italy. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi are individually known for being Italy’s greatest painters of the Baroque period. As artists, the professional challenges that they faced exemplified the dichotomy between genders in the early modern period. While Caravaggio’s controversial art style and violent lifestyle did not hinder his success, Gentileschi faced persistent apprehension and criticism by her contemporaries, solely because she was a woman working in an almost exclusively male profession. The professional restrictions and limitations that were experienced by female artists in the seventeenth century are represented in the career and reputation of Artemisia Gentileschi. By comparing the art, careers, and reputations of Rome’s most notable painters, this paper offers insight into how art is representative of gender and gender relations in early modern Italy.